A Never Failing Bond
by SocksForDobby
Summary: A potion accident creates disasterous results for Harry and Snape. Unable to leave each other's presence for more than hours at a time, how will they cope? Not slash.
1. Dreaming Big Dreams

Title: **A Never Failing Bond**  
Category: Books » Harry Potter  
Author: SocksForDobby  
Beta: Foxmac

Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Genre: Drama/Angst

Pairings: It is not a slash story.  
Published: 06-20-09, Finished: 07-24-09  
Chapters: 19, Words: 48,200

**Disclaimer**: I do not own "Harry Potter" or any characters from it. I am making no money off of this story.

* * *

**Chapter One**  
**"Dreaming Big Dreams"**

"Longbottom!" The Potions Master roared after spitting out the potion.

"Y-Y-Yes, sir?"

"What is in this?" Professor Snape held up the small cauldron that the student had brewed his potion in.

"J-Just what the book said to put in it."

Neville Longbottom, as far as Purebloods went, was pretty pathetic in most areas of wizardry. He rarely escaped Potions without an exploding cauldron, had never completely succeeded in changing a beetle to a button, and everyone knew that Professor Flitwick had only let him pass Charms out of sympathy.

"Read the ingredients out loud," Hermione Granger hissed beside Neville.

Neville looked down at the Potions book. "Finnegan droppings, crushed chicken toenails, cornflick seeds and mashed harnkin berries. I-Is that right?"

"How is it, Longbottom, that you can manage to mess up even the simplest of potions? You are in your seventh year! Eighth! Most third years could have easily... " He started picking through the ingredients Neville had prepared. He picked up one of many off-white slivers off pf Neville's work area. "What is this?"

"A-A cornflick seed."

"Correction, Longbottom. It is a flake of dragon hide. Only used in the rarest of potions. Twenty points from Gryffindor for wasting precious supplies, and ten from Gryffindor for messing up so dreadfully." Snape said smoothly, to the groans of all Gryffindors in the room.

Most Gryffindors in Snape's Potions class were all seventeen and eighteen years of age. After the defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort, many of Harry's year mates returned to Hogwarts to repeat their previous year. Among them were Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.

"Bloody disgusting, that's what it is," Ron muttered, glaring at the back of Snape's billowing cloak. "Thirty points from Gryffindor, my foot."

"Don't let him hear you, Ron." Hermione hissed. "Or he'll take more points."

Harry glanced over at Ginny Weasley, whose brown eyes were staring at Snape in rage. She was a year younger than him and consequently usually a year behind. However, since Harry came back to Hogwarts to resume his seventh year, he had found himself in the same class as her. Harry was casually dating the red-headed Gryffindor but had started to contemplate asking more.

_'Ginny, will you go steady with me?' _Harry imagined himself asking Ginny. _'Will you date me exclusively? Will you be my girlfriend?'_

_'Of course, Harry!' _would be Ginny's ecstatic and sincere reply_._ There would be no excited shriekingthat usually accompanies an annoyingly high-pitched voice that most girls tend to do when they got excited when the target of their affections took notice of or spoke to them.

_'I thought you would never ask!' Her brown eyes would sparkle as she leaned towards him, lips parting slightly-_

"No one is to drink this potion!" Snape roared suddenly, snapping Harry back to the present. Snape's eyes were wild with panic and his severely scarred throat bulged. He stood behind his desk, snapped an ancient book entitled, "Potions From Afar" shut.

"Who put the dragon hide flakes on Longbottom's desk?" Snape asked the class, staring at each student in the eye as he walked through the aisle of desks. "Who did it?"

Snape stopped at Harry's desk, as Harry knew he would. Harry stared at his own stubby, dirty fingernails. He knew if he didn't look up at Snape, he might walk away. However, the familiar black professorial robes remained where they were.

"Potter," Snape growled, grabbing the back of Harry's robes.

"I didn't do it!" Harry exclaimed, looking up at Snape wide-eyed. "I didn't!" _I'm horrid at Potions, Snape knows that. He is just looking at a way to sabotage Gryffindor, which makes no sense!_

Apparently Hermione was thinking the same thing. "Professor Snape," she spoke up, speaking patiently. "Why would Harry sabotage Neville's cauldron? They're both Gryffindors."

Snape snarled, dropping Harry's robes. He evidently saw the reason in that, though he didn't give Hermione any credit for the thought. "You're dismissed early," he said. "Everyone, go - and no one touch Longbottom's potion on your way out."

Snape was letting class out early, which was a first that anyone could remember. And since no one was going to dare argue that point, the class silently cleared away their work areas before walking out the room in single-file.

"What was that all about?" Ron whispered to Neville, who was paler than Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost.

Neville shrugged. "I-I thought they were cornflick seeds."

"We know you did, Neville." Ginny comforted the boy, patting his arm.

"I wonder why was Snape so paranoid about the potion," Hermione said thoughtfully. "What sort of potion is exactly like the one we were making only with dragon hide? I know that there are not too many potions that are alike in the amount of time needed to brew stir, and-"

"I thought it was ridiculous that he thought Potter did it," Draco drawled, catching up with them. "After all, we all know how Potter is at Potions. How could he have known to exchange the seeds with the hide?" His intentions were, of course, to make fun of Harry's grades in Potions but his words had given Hermione more to think about.

"So whoever did it knew what he or she was doing," Hermione added, mulling over what Draco had said.

"Can't we just drop it?" Harry whined. "It's not that important. Besides, all this talk about being sabotaged is going to make Neville faint." Which was true as Neville was white as a sheet.

As they headed towards Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry grabbed Ginny's arm. "Stay behind for a few minutes?" he asked nervously.

Ginny nodded, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. No doubt she thought Harry had some sort of scheme planned. "What is it?" she asked as they saw the door of their classroom shut.

"Tonight, after supper, would you like to meet me at the pond, underneath the oak tree?" Harry asked.

Ginny eyed him carefully. "Why?"

"I promise that what I have planned will take no points away from Gryffindor." Harry said quickly. "It's perfectly legal, even by Snape's standards."

Ginny thought for a moment before nodding. "You've got it, Harry," she said as she squeezed his arm. "Let's get to class."

* * *

Harry felt like he was floating on air as he walked into the Great Hall three hours later.

_Ginny agreed to meet _me. The thought thrilled him. He just knew she would agree to be his girlfriend for who knew how long. Maybe he would end up marrying her . . .

"Harry, aren't you hungry?" Hermione asked with concerned as Harry ignored his pasta.

"Huh? What?" Harry looked at Hermione, coming out of his Ginny-induced daze.

Hermione sighed and lowered her voice. "Listen, Harry, I know you're excited about Ginny and all but you need to eat. It'll help keep you from getting nervous over asking her."

Harry shook his head, a drunken smile on his face. "I won't be nervous," he assured Hermione.

"Yeah, 'Mione." Ron agreed around a mouthful of bread. "He only defeated You-Know-Who so why would he be afraid of asking a stubborn seventeen year old to be his girlfriend?"

"Shh!" Harry hissed sharply. "I don't want her to hear you."

"You don't want her to hear what, Potter?" Malfoy's voice came up behind Harry.

Harry turned around, glaring at his least favorite schoolmate. "Sod off, Malfoy."

"'Sod off, Malfoy'," Malfoy mimicked. "Are you going to ask the Weaselette to be your girlfriend because that's what I heard."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all leaped to their feet. "Not another word, Malfoy," Harry said in a low voice, brandishing his wand.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall's shrill voice came up behind them.

Malfoy was an obnoxious jerk and a former Death Eater but he wasn't an idiot. Professor McGonagall was not only Head of Gryffindor House, but was also the Deputy Headmistress of the entire school. He knew better than to cause trouble in front of her. "I was just talking to Potter," he replied smoothly.

"Fine. You've spoken. Now get back to your House table," Professor McGonagall barked.

"I hate Slytherins." Harry muttered, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Hear, hear," Ron said as he raised his glass of orange liquid.

* * *

Harry was pacing back and forth under the oak tree. Did I say to meet me here after supper?

Bill Weasley had once told Harry that women were habitually late, that it was in their blood or something. Harry had hoped that Ginny was different. He loved her so much that it hurt. It wasn't puppy love, either. He knew that he would be marrying her someday. He would need a couple of years to become an Auror, and she definitely was not the type to get married right out of school. Once he'd gained his Auror badge, he'd ask her then. And once she'd agreed to marry him, they would have a nice small wedding - with no reporters - and settle down somewhere in the country. They would grow old together, and-

"Harry!" Ginny called out as she hurried across the Hogwarts grounds to him. She was still wearing her school robes, and he thought that she'd looked gorgeous in them.

Ginny sat down beside him and smiled. "Oh, wow," she said, looking out over the pond. "It's beautiful."

"Sometimes I come here to relax," Harry added with a smile. "It's really nice in the evening."

"It is," Ginny said with a dreamy smile on her lips.

"You should see it in the sunset," Harry continued. "The reflection on the pond matches your hair perfectly." Harry wasn't flirting - well, okay he was - but he meant it. He thought of her every time he saw the setting sun's reflection on the pond.

"Oh," Ginny breathed as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Thanks for asking me to watch the sunset with you."

Harry's head started to spin slightly. "I wanted to watch the sunset with you," he said breathlessly. "But that's not the main reason why we're out here." He caught his breath, which he seemed short of.

Ginny looked at him in anticipation as she was waiting for him to continue.

"I really like you, Ginny," Harry began shyly, remembering what Ron had told him about feeling awkward towards girls. Harry was going to prove Ron wrong. Although, that wasn't the point of all this, but- oh Merlin, he couldn't see straight. Apparently he was more nervous than he thought.

"I really like you, too, Harry," Ginny said.

Harry thought Ginny's eyes shone brightly at him as he felt her look at him. He cleared his throat. "Will you be my girlfriend, Ginny? I'd like to be your steady boyfriend. To go out with you and only you unless we decide otherwise," he relayed the words he had spent memorizing the past few weeks, only he hadn't counted on the nausea he had begun to feel.

"Oh, of course I will, Harry!" Ginny replied excitedly. "I've been- Harry? Are you feeling all right?"

Harry couldn't answer. His head was swimming. He couldn't keep his thoughts straight. The last thing he heard was Ginny calling his name before darkness consumed hm.


	2. Not One Patient, But Two

**Chapter Two**

"**Not One Patient, But Two"**

* * *

Professor Severus Snape was in his private chambers, mulling over his first-year student's tests.

"Fulton... 33%... five points from Gryffindor." Severus muttered, marking the parchment before moving onto the next. "Kiffle... 87%..."

He suddenly put his head in his hands, supporting himself on his elbows, which were sitting on the desk. He had had a massive headache since supper, an hour ago. It had come on relatively quickly and had only become more intense over the past hour. It hurt like a headache Severus had never had never had before, and the painkilling Potion he had tried had not helped at all.

"Howe... 97%... two points from Gryffindor for being a know-it-all brat." He hated all Gryffindors with a passion and whenever he found a reason to take House points away from them, he did so. He had always hated that eleven-year-old Howe girl – she was like a miniature Granger, which was a bad thing – Granger was still in her last year, and Hogwarts could only accommodate one know-it-all child at a time. At least, he couldn't tolerate them.

_Forget the tests, Severus, _he told himself. _Take some Dreamless Sleep Potion and go to sleep early. Or just rest your eyes at least._

He stood up. A wave of nausea overcame him and he immediately fought the urge to vomit all over the stone floor. Feeling both dizzy and lightheaded, he made his way over to a shelf in his small kitchen. He rarely used the kitchen, eating all his meals in the Great Hall, but it was pleasant to have when he felt like avoiding students.

He picked up a bottle filled with a blue liquid and downed it in one gulp. _If that doesn't take care of the nausea, nothing will. _He thought grimly as the Potion slid down his throat. It tasted like a mixture of rotten eggs and socks that had been worn for a week.

A thought came to him, one he didn't want to think about. _What about Longbottom's Potion? The one you drank earlier?_

No. Absolutely not. He had certainly swallowed one drop - even after spitting it out, some could have remained in his mouth or been absorbed under his tongue. But he had gone to the storeroom to check on his supply of dragon hide flakes, checked the other Potions to see what was in them, and then disposed of Longbottom's Potion. It was simply not possible.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey inquired, staring over at him.

Harry wearily tried to sit up, but as a flood of nausea hit him, he fell back. "What's wrong?" He asked. He hadn't felt this miserable in he didn't know how long.

"You have likely just caught a little bug. How are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey dismissed his worries.

"Like I'm going to throw-up." Harry said bluntly. "Like my head is about to crack open. The room is spinning." He didn't feel like talking. He felt too sick.

"Here you go – this should take care of the nauseousness right away." The light blue Potion tasted like sweaty socks.

"Ugh." Harry groaned, after swallowing. "It'll make it worse, is what it'll do. Can I chase it with some water?" He asked hopefully.

"Best not." Madame Pomfrey gave his a pat on the head, which did not help Harry's headache at all. "I guarantee you; your nausea will be gone in half an hour."

But it wasn't. As a matter of fact, he only felt worse. Madame Pomfrey looked perplexed. "He has a very high fever." She commented to Professor Dumbledore, who had stopped in to check on Harry. "He is sweating, and is so pale."

"His breathing is rather shallow, don't you think?" Dumbledore observed.

Madame Pomfrey just nodded. "I haven't a clue what is wrong with him – perhaps we should send him over to St. Mungo's for-"

Professor Dumbledore shook his head. "Not unless it gets worse. If we send him over there, his illness will be front page news, which will distress him. He just needs to relax."

"I will let you know of any updates, Albus." Madame Pomfrey saw the Headmaster out the door.

As Professor Dumbledore walked down the corridor, he was bumped into by a very frazzled and pale looking Potions Master.

"Well, good evening, Severus." Professor Dumbledore said kindly. He was one of the few people living at Hogwarts who had seen Severus' other side. The man was actually capable of smiling, laughing, and telling jokes, although most students believed that to be a myth.

"Who-Who is in the infirmary?" Severus Snape seemed to be desperate for breath.

"What is it, Severus?" Professor Dumbledore asked, suspicion creeping in. Regardless of Severus' mood, he always was calm. Never had Professor Dumbledore seen Severus' eyes so wild, or his already-pale skin so pale.

Severus just ran past Dumbledore and into the infirmary. Dumbledore quickly followed, curious to know why Severus was so concerned. How had he known that there was a patient in the infirmary?

* * *

_Please let no one be in the infirmary, please no, _Severus begged as he ran along into the infirmary. _Please just let whoever is in there just have broken legs, a bruised brain... please._

"Professor Snape!" Madame Pomfrey seemed more than surprised to see him. "What can I do for you?"

"The patient." He growled. "Is anyone here sick?"

Madame Pomfrey seemed confused. "It _is_ the infirmary, Professor Snape. Most here _are_ sick or broken."

"No, no." He said. "Sick... headaches, nausea... is anyone here..." he felt too sick to continue. He felt like his knees were about to collapse out from under him with exhaustion. _Just say no, Madame Pomfrey_, he begged silently.

Madame Pomfrey looked hesitant. "How did you know about Potter?"

Severus felt his heart stop. It took everything he had to not collapse. "P-P-Potter?" He stuttered in fear.

Madame Pomfrey pointed to the only occupied bed in the infirmary. True to her words, there laid Harry Potter. The-Boy-Who-Lived. A Gryffindor. Lily's son. He was as pale as the sheets he laid upon, his green eyes closed, his glasses not on. His black hair was jetted out, messier than usual, and was drenched in sweat. The famous forehead, with the lightening-shaped scar, was also covered in sweat beads.

"Oh, Merlin." Severus dropped to his knees with a moan. "Oh, Merlin, please no!"


	3. Diagnosis Made

**Chapter Three**

"**Diagnosis Made"**

* * *

Severus Snape began doing something he thought he'd never do. He began to weakly crawl across the stone floor, towards the sleeping Potter's bed.

"Severus, what is going on?" Dumbledore asked, concerned for Harry's health and the Potion Master's sanity.

Severus ignored the Headmaster as he reached the bed. Raising a weak arm, he grabbed onto Harry's arm.

_The boy is a living furnace!_ Severus couldn't believe the heat radiating from Harry's body.

Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey were standing behind Severus. "What is wrong, Severus? Do you know what is going on?" Dumbledore asked the Potions Master.

"Help me onto the bed." Severus rasped. The run from the dungeons up to the infirmary had worn him out, and what with the surprise of seeing Potter in the same condition as he was... it was all Severus could do to think.

"Why Severus?" Dumbledore asked, cautiously. He knew how Severus felt about Harry Potter – he hated him with a passion, but saw it his duty to make sure the boy stayed alive, as a favor for Lily. He didn't think Severus would do anything to Harry – but one could never be sure.

"I – just – need – to." Severus spoke as if each word was a struggle. And they were. He was breathless and just wanted to curl up on the cold castle floor and go to sleep. But he knew if he did that before getting into the bed, he would never wake up.

Dumbledore nodded towards Madame Pomfrey and together they rolled the Potions Master onto the twin-sized bed. Severus and Harry were squeezed onto the mattress.

Dumbledore saw Severus give Harry a look too dirty for words before settling down. "Bring me all the books you can find on rare Potions." Severus said. "Wake me in an hour... don't let Potter wake up." He fell asleep almost instantly after finishing his sentence.

Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore exchanged glances. What was Severus Snape up to?

"I'll, er, go pay a visit to Miss Hermione Granger." Dumbledore began easing his way out of the infirmary. "If anyone knows what our Professor Snape is looking for, she will." He knew Hermione had been the brightest student in school since she had first arrived in her first-year.

Madame Pomfrey barely acknowledged the Headmaster as she used her wand to take the Professor's temperature. Maybe he was delirious or something. Perhaps that's why he had been so desperate to get into that particular bed. Why else? It was no mystery that he hated Harry Potter – usually when one hated someone else, they did not lay in bed with one another. But what she found shocked her. "It is almost as high as Harry's!" She whispered in shock.

* * *

Madame Pomfrey gently coaxed the Dreamless Sleep Potion down Harry's throat. He was already asleep, but would soon be waking up, and the Potion would prevent it.

Harry's fever was coming down, and he was less pale. He had stopped his shivering and shuddering. Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it – an illness coming and going so quickly?"

She looked over to Severus. Severus was still fully-clad in his black professor-wear, and billowing black cloak, complete with black boots. His greasy head was propped up slightly on the head of the bed. He looked most uncomfortable. Still his fever had come down and he looked quite a bit better.

She flicked her wand at him and muttered something. Severus immediately opened his eyes and shuddered as he remembered what he was doing. He looked over at Harry. "Was time is it?" He asked Madame Pomfrey, his voice hoarse.

She handed him a glass of water. "Eight o'clock in the evening." She informed him. "I woke you up in an hour, just as you requested." She eyed him carefully. "What are you up to, Severus?"

Severus just shook his head. "Not now. Where are the books I asked for?"

"Right here." She handed him two books, _Potions in History _and _Dangerous Potions in Ancient History_.

"_Potions in History_?" Severus grumbled. "That is only basic; not what I'm looking for." He tossed the heavy book across the bed, landing with a hard _thud!_ on Harry's knee.

"Severus!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, picking up the book that had fallen on the floor. "You're going to hurt the poor boy!"

Severus barely glanced sideways at Harry. "He's asleep – he didn't feel it." He looked through the other book for only a minute before tossing it, this time narrowly missing Harry's stomach before toppling over the other side of the bed.

"Where are the other books?" Severus growled, looking around.

"These are the only ones that Miss Granger brought up." Madame Pomfrey said patiently, picking up _Dangerous Potions in Ancient History _and sitting it on a shelf across the room with _Potions in History._

"Granger?" Severus looked alarmed. With his hair sticking out all over the place, dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes wide in alarm, he looked nothing at all like himself. "She knows about this?" He motioned to him and Harry. The last thing he needed was for the whole school to get a whiff of what was going on.

"Goodness, no." Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "Professor Dumbledore got the books from her and he brought them up here himself." She eyed the professor. "What is going on, Severus?"

_Didn't I just tell her 'not now', _he thought angrily. He was very frustrated, and didn't want to be asked questions he didn't know the answers to himself. "I need more books." He insisted. "I need to find something."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "It would be so much easier if you could tell us what you are looking for."

Severus sighed. "Can you hand me parchment and a quill?" He asked. He was never in the habit of saying 'please' or 'thank you'.

He scribbled down the titles of seven different book titles. "Can you get someone to bring these up from the library?" He asked Madame Pomfrey. "But make sure no one knows what's going on."

"Who does?" She muttered, taking the list from the professor. She was a medi-witch, not a slave, but she understood that what Severus was asking was important. He wouldn't be crushed next to Harry Potter if it wasn't.

* * *

"Severus, we need to know what's going on." Dumbledore said calmly, sitting in the comfortable arm chair he transfigured from a normal hard backed chair.

Severus looked up from the book he had been reading, the blood leaving his face. He couldn't believe it. _This is not happening, not happening... curse Potter! The nosy little brat!_

He looked from Dumbledore, to Madame Pomfrey (who was standing behind Dumbledore in expectation), to Potter, who was lying next to Severus. Potter hadn't woke up since before Severus had climbed into bed.

"Longbottom." He found himself saying. "Longbottom's Potion."

Dumbledore's eyes were full of concern from behind his half-moon glasses. He was looking at Severus, waiting for an explanation.

Severus barely knew how to continue. "I had the seventh years make a Potion that changed the color of your eyes," He didn't bother to name the actual name of the Potion. "But instead of using cornflick seeds, Longbottom, that idiotic Gryffindor, used dragon hide flakes."

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "That is rarely used in Potions, Severus. I didn't think you even used dragon hide flakes in your student's Potions."

"I don't!" Severus slammed his fist down on his knee. "But somehow it got on his table and he used it! I took a small sip of it and knew something was wrong. I forbade the students from touching it, but Potter must have!"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I still don't follow you, Severus – what is this Potion we are speaking of?"

"A Contineo Potion." Severus stated.

You could have heard a pin drop. Dumbledore stared at Severus and Severus back at Dumbledore. They were silent for a long time before Dumbledore's shoulders began to shake. Then he let out a chuckle, which soon became a roaring laugh.

Severus pulled out his wand and pointed it at Dumbledore, glaring. "Are you planning on telling me what you find so funny, Dumbledore?" He hissed.

Dumbledore shook his head, wiping away tears of laughter. "Put that away, Professor. We both know you aren't going to use it."

Severus tucked the wand inside his robes with a scowl. _He laughed! I hardly find this situation so amusing!_

"What is this Contineo Potion?" Madame Pomfrey asked. She had never heard of this Contineo Potion.

"It's a bonding Potion, Madame Pomfrey." Dumbledore explained, a twinkle in his eye. "Over ten thousand years ago, this dangerous Potion was concocted. All one needs to do is take a drop of it, and if someone else has another drop from the same batch, the two will be bonded." He said, his expression serious except for his eyes, which danced with amusement. "Not as in marriage, of course. But it will make the two people excruciatingly sick unless they spend a lot of time together, or... they die."

Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "So Harry and Severus must spend a bit of time together each day – that is not such a big deal."

"Oh, more than just 'a bit' of time. They must spend as much time together as possible, or the nausea, weakness, headaches, fevers and such will kick in." Dumbledore continued to explain to Madame Pomfrey. Severus understood all of this from his reading, and listened numbly.

"There have only been a handful of known cases in history. The patients must touch each other, spend time physically close to each other, and even making eye contact can help." There wasn't a lot to know on the subject, but what there was to know, Dumbledore did. "Imagine it like a charge; the more time they spend together, the more they charge, so that they can spend time away from each other without getting sick."

Madame Pomfrey looked shocked. "So that is why they are both feeling better now? Because Severus is here?"

Severus nodded grimly. "I started feeling ill, and when Potions didn't ease it..." He grimaced. "I knew."

"So when are you going to tell the boy?" Dumbledore asked Severus, all amusement gone from his eyes.

Severus looked from Dumbledore, to Harry, back to Dumbledore. "No, he has been asleep so- wait," he looked wildly at Dumbledore. "I can't tell him – you tell him."

"You're the one who bonded with him." Dumbledore said gently.

"B-But he likes you better than he likes me!" Severus sputtered.

"He will be spending the rest of his life with you, Severus. You need to be the one to break it to him."

"But he hates me!" Severus' eyes glinted with rage. "And I hate him!"

"Nevertheless, the situation remains the same." Dumbledore said.

Severus shook his head. "No! He'll hate me even more if-"

"He's the one who wasn't supposed to take the Potion, not you." Dumbledore reminded his colleague. "If he should be mad at anyone-"

"It doesn't matter _who_ he _should_ be mad at – he will be mad at me!"

"Why, Severus, you actually care how he feels about you." Dumbledore was enjoying playing the little game.

"I couldn't care less! I just know if he hates me, it's going to make all of this much harder! If I could hate him any more than I do now, I would-"

"Severus!" Dumbledore admonished the professor. "You're not going to make anything easier ranting. Take it easy... tell him when he wakes up."

Severus couldn't argue any longer. Even though he had been laying beside Potter for four hours (it was now eleven o'clock at night), he hadn't ever been in the same room with Potter that long. Plus he was really stressed – if he was ever going to get the 'charge' he needed, he would need to get some sleep. "Will you stay here?" He asked Dumbledore, desperately. "I think it would go better if you were."

"He will just turn to me." Dumbledore reasoned. "He needs to hear it from you, Severus. Can I count on you to tell him gently? He needs to hear it gently."

Severus took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. "Fine, but I wouldn't count on it remaining gentle – he will get angry, then I will get angry-"

"Just try." Dumbledore encouraged, getting up slowly. He groaned. "Oh, I am getting too old for this." He transfigured the chair back into the hard backed chair as he made his way out the door.

Severus turned to Madame Pomfrey and groaned. "Why is it always me?"

"He will be waking up anytime now, Severus." Madame Pomfrey said quietly. "I will be in my quarters, if you need me, Severus." She bustled out of the room.

Severus saw her close the door and sighed, leaning back against the barred metal headboard. That was an uncomfortable position to be in, but not as uncomfortable as the one he was about to face.

_Oh Merlin, why Potter? Anyone else but Potter! _He hadn't cried since Lily's death, and wasn't going to allow himself to now. Though now seemed to be the most appropriate time ever to cry.

_I am going to have to spend the rest of my life, at least twelve hours every twenty-four hours, with Potter. _He said to himself for the millionth time in hours. _I am going to __have to talk to him, eat with him, and share a bed with him – forever. Maybe I can just die. _He wished. But if he died, so would Potter, and that wouldn't be so much of a favor to Lily's memory. And besides, Severus had worked too hard over the past eighteen years to just give up because he was stuck with Potter. It was better than having a bond with the Dark Lord, at least.

Severus felt Potter stir beside him and immediately tensed. _I am not ready for this, _he silently groaned, a knot forming in his stomach.

His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him – _Potter's wand!_ He looked over at Potter, who was wearing the standard light blue striped pajamas that Madame Pomfrey had dressed him in. His wand was nowhere in sight, and Severus could only hope Potter wasn't armed with it or anything else, because just then one green eye opened.


	4. Explanations

Chapter Four

"**Explanations"**

* * *

Harry moved slightly. _Where am I? _He wondered, eyes still closed. _I was with Ginny... what happened?_ He moved again and felt something in his bed. _What's that?_

He opened an eye and nearly jumped out of his skin. The sight was the most horrifying thing Harry had ever woke up to – and he had woken up to a lot. "Snape!" He snarled, leaping out of bed to across the room. "What the hell are you doing in my bed?" _What is he doing? _Harry was angry, so angry he was shivering with anger.

"Potter, come back over here." Severus urged the wide-eyed boy, who in his haste had forgotten to put on his glasses. "We need to talk." _Gentle, Severus – go gentle._

"What do you want?" Harry demanded, not moving from his spot from across the room. Snape was acting strange – almost _nice_. Not cold, sneering, and indifferent.

Severus couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Do you really think I'm going to hurt you? Honestly, Potter. I am only here because I have to be."

_What the hell does he want? _Harry wondered angrily as he cautiously made his way back to the bed. He found his glasses sitting on a low shelf above his bed and put them on.

"Sit down, Potter." Severus instructed, pointing to the edge of the bed. _The closer, the better,_ Severus grimly thought.

"No." Harry said defiantly. He would never be closer than three feet from Snape. Ever.

"Potter..." Severus was losing patience. "Sit down!"

"No!" Harry glared at his Potions Master.

_If he told me to sit next to him, I would say 'no'. But _I _am the teacher. _"Ten points from Gryffindor." Severus snapped.

"You can't do that!" Harry yelled. "I'm not in Potions! It's eleven-thirty at night!" He pointed to the large clock on the wall.

"Another five points for telling me what I can and can't do, Potter." Severus had lost it. "Now, _sit down_!" His body trembled with ever word as he roared them. He knew he would be hoarse in the morning if he didn't drink some water and drink a Potion for that.

Harry stared at Snape. He couldn't help but shudder slightly. He had never had Snape yell at him quite like that before – he sounded so much like Uncle Vernon when he did that. It made Harry hate Snape even more – or maybe it made him hate Uncle Vernon even more. He sat at the very edge of the bed, as far from Snape as he could get.

_He did what you said – calm down, Severus. Forget you hate him... forget everything. He's the son of Lily, forget about Potter. Just don't look at him. _"Potter," Severus tried to keep his voice steady. Years of being a professor had its advantages. "Did you or did you not touch Longbottom's Potion?"

_Longbottom's Potion? _Harry wondered, in confusion. _Neville's Potion? What about Neville's Potion? Why would I? _"No..." Harry said, giving Snape a confused look. "Why would I?"

"I don't know – sheer curiosity, because I told you not to?" Severus resisted the urge to stand up and pace. He needed to stay close to Potter for as long as Potter would let him. Their lives depended on it.

"I didn't!" Harry exclaimed. "I don't even know what that Potion was? Is that why you're here? Because you can go question someone else – it wasn't me."

"I know you did, Potter." Severus tried not to raise his voice, but it was hard. If he thought he hated Potter before, it was nothing to how much he hated him now. "There is no other explanation for your sudden illness and just as sudden recovery."

"What was the Potion?" Harry leaned forward, curious. "I mean, I didn't touch it or anything – I swear."

Severus sighed. He'd never get a confession out of Potter. "Detention for touching the Potion."

"But I didn't do it!" Harry cried out.

"Detention!" Snape glared. _Now he _has _to be in my presence. _"For two weeks!"

"Two weeks?" Harry's shoulders sagged. "Why? Why was that Potion so important to you?"

"Because I swallowed it, Potter!" Severus couldn't stand it; he stood up and began pacing, angrily. "That Potion was the Contineo Potion!"

"Th-The Contineo Potion?" _What is the Contineo Potion?_

"Yes, Potter!" Severus yelled. He picked up a book and opened it to the page he had marked. "'The Contineo Potion is a very rare Potion, only a handful of Wizards have been affected by it, to date. The Potion, consisting of crushed chicken toenails and dragon hide flakes, is the strongest bonding Potion known. Each drinker from a single batch will be permanently Bonded. The drinkers need to spend at least an equal time together as apart, preferably more. If the drinkers choose to go against this Bond, they will both get sick (headaches, stomach-aches, vomiting, dizziness, etc.) and eventually die. Only one pair of Wizards having taken the Potion have survived more than ten years, the rest dying due to separation'."

Severus slammed the old book shut, dust flying everywhere. "Well, Potter?" He snapped at the boy.

Harry stared at Snape blankly. "But I didn't touch your Potion."

"Wrong, Potter – wrong!" Severus couldn't stop yelling now – he was too angry. "I drank it in Potions, and then you drank it! In case you were not paying attention, 'each drinker from a single batch will be permanently bonded'. What do you think that means, Potter?"

_I don't know! I just woke up to you yelling at me about some drivel and I have no clue what you're talking about! If you would just explain it like a sane person... don't say it, Harry. Be cordial – for Gryffindor. _"I don't know, Professor Snape." He said flatly.

"It means that you and I – that when you were feeling ill enough to go to the infirmary, so was I! That no amount of Potions could make us feel better! And yet as soon as I got into this bed, guess what happened? Our fevers went down and we were capable of holding down any Potions we did take!" Severus hadn't ranted in years – it felt horrible. It felt like he was giving up all control. But he couldn't stop.

"It means that we will have to spend every spare moment in each other's company!" Severus continued, whilst Harry just stared, dumbfounded. "It means that we are going to have to map out every minute of every day, to make sure we're fully charged! But that's all right – the more time, the better, right? Are you happy now, Potter, that you have ruined my life in every way, shape and form? Are you happy now?"

Harry couldn't answer. His mind was racing with thoughts. _Bonding? You mean I'm stuck with him, forever? Or I die? _"I'd rather die." Harry found himself saying.

Snape smiled grimly, in a creepy sort of way. "I already thought of that, Potter. Unfortunately, our Professor Dumbledore won't allow it."

"So what am I supposed to do? Handcuff myself to you while you go about your daily life?" Harry cried out. He hated losing control in front of Snape. "Somehow I feel like I'll be getting the rawest part in this deal."

"Oh, no need to worry about that. We all know that _the_ Harry Potter will be living the best life possible." Severus was angrier than ever. "I'll just have to tag along." _Because of course, everyone will take pity on him. Everyone will expect me to follow him around as he does whatever he wants... just because he's 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'!_

"Not true!" Harry yelled. "I'm tired of you acting like I live in the lap of luxury. I have nothing, okay? Nothing! I live with the most horrible aunt, uncle, and cousin you can name. The only Galleons I have to my name are thanks to my father, which I can only spend while I'm at Hogwarts, when I don't even need them! Do you know what I considered luxury? Do you? The past month has been _amazing_! I haven't had to worry about Dark lords, or Dementors, or-or anything else! And while I'm here, I don't have to worry about getting enough food or anything! I can just _live_!"

"Well, forget your dreams now, Potter, because you're stuck." Severus grimaced at the thought of having to spend time with the Potter brat. "Now, if you will calmly quiet down, I have tests to grade." He sat back down on the bed and began writing on a piece of parchment. It was very uncomfortable to write that way, with his parchment on top of a book, on top of his knees, the ink in his free hand. Yet, if he wanted to live, he would have to prepare the lesson that way...

"Granger, 100%." Severus muttered under his breath as Potter stared at him from the neighboring bed. "For once, I'd love to give the little brat a T, just to see her break down."

"Not fair." Harry tried to keep his voice down. _Snape is so awful, even out of the classroom! _"Hermione works hard – she deserves all the O's she can get!"

"I believe I will be the judge of that. Get to bed, Potter." Severus tried to sound more bored than annoyed. "You have class tomorrow. Take some Dreamless Sleep Potion – you'll need it."

Harry started to climb into the bed that was next to the one Snape was in, the one he himself had previously occupied. "You'll just wake up and find the greasy-haired git a nightmare." He muttered to himself quietly.

"Wrong bed, Potter." Severus tried to keep his voice just as monotone as before, but it was hard. _Greasy-haired git? As if I haven't been called that before – the boy really will have to try harder if he wants to get on my nerves._

"No." Harry said. "Being in the bed next to you is close enough for me."

"No, it's not." Severus said matter-of-factly, as if he had known all about the Contineo Potion since birth. "Physical touch is one of the best ways to charge. Get over here – I am comfortable and will not move." He was far from comfortable, but he didn't want Potter to think that Potter had any control in what went on. If they had to spend time together, then Severus was the boss when they did.

Severus brandished his wand. "I mean it, Potter. Don't make me Stupefy you."

_My wand! _Harry realized for the first time since waking. _How could I forget my wand? _He felt his bedclothes – it was easy to tell his wand was not on him. "Where's my wand?" He said, accusingly.

"I did not touch your wand, Potter." Severus said, honestly having no clue where the wand was. _And I'm not stupid enough to tell you if I did. _"Madame Pomfrey will give it to you tomorrow in time for classes. Now, come over or I _will_ Stupefy you!"

_He means it, _Harry realized, coming over to the bed hesitantly. _I suppose nothing is beyond a Death Eater. _He knew that Snape hadn't really been a Death Eater, but that didn't stop Harry from hating him for it.

Harry downed a bit of Dreamless Sleep Potion, crawled into the bed and under the sheets, as close to the left side of the bed as possible, as far away from Snape as possible. Barely touching Snape as he was, he couldn't help but shudder at the touch. He looked over at Snape - the man was still dressed, complete with heavy boots on his feet.

_I hope he dies a slow painful death, _Harry thought as he fell quickly into a deep dreamless sleep.


	5. Realization

**Chapter Five**

"**Realization"**

* * *

Harry woke up with a start. _This isn't my bed... and who is next to me? _He leaped out of bed in alarm. Snape was laying next to him, fully-clad in his black professor clothes, and fast asleep.

The memories of the previous night flushed over Harry, tying a huge knot in his stomach. _This is just a prank, _He told himself as he stared at Snape in horror. _Just some stupid thing that everyone is trying to pull over me. _Though he doubted that was true. After all, he had been through enough in the past seven years – surely Dumbledore wouldn't see it fit to prank him like this? And if the prank involved speaking to Harry and laying next to him, surely Snape would not have gone with it?

_Hermione would know! _Harry realized immediately. _Of course she would! She is the only one who actually pays attention in History of Magic and Potions! I will just go ask her if this... this Contineo Potion is real._

But as he padded towards the door of the infirmary and tried to pull it open, he knew it wouldn't be as simple as he had originally hoped. _Why the hell would they lock the door? _He huffed. _What if someone needed to find Madame Pomfrey? _But Harry knew the answer before he had even bothered to ask himself the question; the door was locked from the inside, thanks to some special charm. And without his wand, the only way to get it open would be to ask Snape to open it, who definitely wouldn't. The reason the charm was there was to keep Harry locked in.

_This is just awful, _Harry sank to his knees. _I can't do this. I can't spend all my time with Snape. I cannot. Oh, please, let this just be a nightmare!_

_Maybe Snape and Dumbledore are wrong. Maybe it really was just a bug that Snape and I both caught. It's probably just a coincidence that we both got better here in the infirmary. _But the sinking feeling in Harry stomach told otherwise – Neville _had_ put the dragon hide flakes in his Potion, and Snape _had_ drunk it. _But I didn't!_ Harry thought, furiously.

He got up and crept over to the book Snape had been reading from the night before. Sure enough, in the bookmarked page under the 'dangerous' section, was the Contineo Potion. It had warnings on the page about using the page only for reference, the summary of the Potion which Snape had read out loud last night, and the recipe. The recipe looked exactly like the Potion that they had made the day before in Potions, except instead of the cornflick seeds were dragon hide flakes. Also, the Contineo Potion needed stirred counter-clockwise less than the other Potion, and only needed to be taken by the drop to become effective. The more one drank of the Potion, the stronger their bond would be, therefore the more the two drinkers would have to be around each other.

_I don't see how I could have just gotten a drop of it, _Harry reasoned. _I didn't touch it – I didn't even give it a second glance! If I'd made it, that would be one thing – I __could have gotten some on my finger and absent-mindedly licked it off – but I wasn't anywhere near Neville!_

Harry felt the overwhelming urge to hex Neville for finally getting a Potion right, even when he hadn't meant to make the particular Potion. Fortunately for Neville, Harry was locked in the infirmary.

"Potter!" Harry jumped, dropping the book on his foot in surprise at the sound of the cold, angry voice.

Snape was standing behind him, thrusting Harry's clothes and robes at him. Madame Pomfrey hadn't bothered to clean them with a simple household charm, and apparently neither had Snape. _But then again, slimy old Snape wouldn't know what soap was if it hit him on the head_, Harry thought dryly as he took the clothes from Snape.

"What are these for?" Harry curiously asked.

"To wear, Potter!" Severus was exasperated. He had stayed up too late last night grading papers and worrying over his newest problem, and as a result, had slept much too late. It was six-thirty in the morning – his first class would begin in an hour and a half, and he still had that meeting with Professor Dumbledore.

Harry just rolled his eyes and went into the bathroom that was connected to the infirmary. Severus just let him go. He ran his fingers through his hair in a vain effort to comb it out, but that was about it. He was too concerned about other things to be concerned about how he looked in front of his students or the other teachers.

_The damn Contineo Potion!_ He thought angrily while maintaining his cold and stiff demeanor he reserved for his students. _I should have taken fifty points from Longbottom for messing up – and two hundred from Potter for drinking it! Three hundred!_

He was seriously considering setting the Gryffindors back minus five thousand by the time Harry stepped back into the infirmary. Harry wore his black school robes over his uniform. His black hair was even messier than usual, and his eyes were dark with anger – at Severus.

_Well, let him be mad, _Severus thought. _He will be if Dumbledore agrees to set the Gryffindors back minus five thousand. _He knew his request would be a bit ridiculous, but he had no worries about Gryffindor getting the House Cup that year, at least.

"Come on, Potter." Severus grabbed the back of Harry's robes and began pulling him towards the locked infirmary door.

Harry squirmed, trying to get out of Snape's grasp. "Let go of me!"

"I can't guarantee that you won't run off the moment I let go." Severus sounded calm as he waved his own wand and unlocked the infirmary door. He was rather enjoying it – Potter was a very powerful Wizard, but without a wand, the boy was helpless. He was so short compared to most other boys and men - it was rather fun to see him twist and fight to get out of his grasp.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked through gritted teeth as he walked awkwardly aside Snape, thankful that everyone was in their dormitories still at six-thirty in the morning. The last thing he needed everyone to see was him being dragged around by the Potions Master like a doll.

"Dumbledore's office." Severus replied easily as they turned a corner.

"Why won't you give me my wand?" Harry demanded. "I need my wand!"

"And you shall have it – for classes." Severus said, firmly. Truth be told, he wasn't comfortable knowing that Potter had a wand, even just for classes. Potter was prone to outbursts and irrational decisions – the last thing that Severus needed was to have to spend every second of the rest of his life on alert, for fear that Potter would send some hex his way before Severus could react.

"You can't withhold my wand from me!" Harry shouted in anger.

"Watch me do it, Potter." Severus growled. "Lemon Whizzies." Severus was talking to Dumbledore's office door. The door swung open, and Severus stepped inside, taking Potter with him.

Harry had always liked the smell of Dumbledore's office. It smelled of antiques, smoke, various Potions, and of course, in inevitable dust for a office as old as the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore looked up from his porridge and smiled at the two coming into his room. He knew it was terrible of him, but he couldn't help but find Severus' and Harry's situation entirely too amusing. The two hated each other, and now they were forced to spend the rest of their lives with each other? It made Dumbledore chuckle just thinking about it.

Severus glared at Dumbledore. Yes, Dumbledore was Headmaster and a very powerful Wizard – plenty of respect was due. But Severus could not see what was so amusing about the Contineo Potion and hated the Dumbledore found their dire situation so hilarious.

"Sit down." Dumbledore waved at the two chairs sitting at the desk across from his. "I had expected you earlier."

"I'm sorry, Headmaster." Severus called Dumbledore "Albus" most of the time, but not in the presence of students. "We overslept."

"No apologies needed, Severus." Dumbledore spoke in his customary slow way. "Porridge tastes just as fine in here as it does in the Great Hall. It is merely my impatience to blame, I'm afraid. Breakfast doesn't even start for half an hour."

Harry couldn't help but fidget. Dumbledore always took entirely too long to get to the point. _Maybe he'll have good news, _Harry thought hopefully. _Maybe he will tell us that there is a cure or counter-curse. At least he will have to make Snape give me my wand back! _Harry felt entirely too vulnerable without it.

"I assume you have told Harry the unfortunate news." Dumbledore asked Severus, looking meaningful at Harry.

Severus nodded. "Yes. He took it as expected." Severus glanced at the boy beside him. "He doesn't believe me, I'm afraid."

"Do you understand, Harry?" Dumbledore asked Harry, gravely. Dumbledore felt sorry for Harry – it would take a lot for Harry to get used to the situation.

Harry nodded. "I-I think so. There's no... cure? Or counter-Potion or anything we can take?" He tried not to get his hopes up, but by just saying the words made his heart leap with hope.

"Severus?" Dumbledore prompted.

Severus scowled. Dumbledore insisted that Severus and Potter communicate as much as possible. "No, there's not, Potter. I thought I made that abundantly clear last night."

"All you said was that it killed people sometimes." Harry challenged, eyes sparking.

"I recall saying that it had permanent bonding effects." Severus growled. "'Permanent' as in 'never changing'. Need I send you back to your first-year?"

"Now, Severus – be nice." Dumbledore smiled softly. "Do you have no more questions, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. He felt numb with shock – and anger. He didn't know why he was angry, exactly, but it didn't stop him from feeling that way.


	6. Dumbledore's Office

**Chapter Six**

"**Dumbledore's Office"**

* * *

Severus Snape was sitting stiffly in a chair next to Harry Potter, who was equally as tense, in Professor Albus Dumbledore's office. They were listening to Dumbledore explain the plans he had concocted overnight, plans on how the pair could possibly survive the rest of the school year. He was a very fine Wizard, and though Severus would have never told Harry, Severus was glad that he had Dumbledore to turn to to help him through such a huge crisis.

"Madame Pomfrey has agreed that staying overnight tonight in the infirmary is for the best." Dumbledore continued. "The two of you need to map out your schedules and figure out what free times you have in common. Between seven in the evening and seven in the morning, you have exactly twelve hours, which should be enough to keep you alive." His words were serious, but his eyes were twinkling as he said those last words, as if the life-and-death situation was a knock-knock joke.

"I took a small mouthful of the Potion." Severus spoke up. "I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the amount of time we spend together, but the instructions said that a single drop is enough."

Dumbledore nodded. "How much did you take, Harry?"

Which led them back to square one. "I didn't do it!" Harry cried out, banging the arm of the chair for emphasis. "Snape keeps-"

"Professor." Dumbledore corrected gently.

"-telling me I did drink it when I didn't! He gave me two weeks of detention for it!" Harry ignored Dumbledore's correction.

"Detention?" Dumbledore seemed amused. "Clever, Severus – the detention would force Harry to spend time with you. If he outright refused, he would be expelled. Clever."

"I am going to send out some owls and gather the papers you'll need." Dumbledore continued, getting up and digging through a cabinet. "It would be best not to let the students know until absolutely necessary."

"Can I tell Ron and Hermione?" Harry piped up. "And Ginny..." His voice trailed. _Ginny! She is probably worried sick about me! And she decided to be my steady girlfriend! Can I still... _"Erm, I have another question; can I still date Ginny?"

Dumbledore glared at Severus. Severus shot a glare back. _Two can play that game_, Severus thought. "You didn't tell him, did you, Severus?" Dumbledore's voice sounded calm, but his eyes were very serious.

"I was going to get to it." Severus said. "If you want me to be the one to tell him, then he will be told in my own timing!"

"When _were_ you going to tell him? I was making plans for tomorrow evening." Dumbledore returned to his porridge.

Harry cleared his throat. "I'm still in the room." _What are they talking me? What did they not tell me? _Worry was eating him alive.

"Later. As in 'not right before his intense Potions test'." _As if. You just wanted to hold off as long as possible, and you know it. _Severus was exasperated with being under interrogation, seemingly. "I was trying to do the young boy a _favor_." He shot Harry an overly fake smile, which Harry returned.

"Harry, I trust your friends," Dumbledore told Harry kindly. "But I feel that at this time, it would be best not to tell them of your situation."

"Why not?" Harry asked, frustrated. "It's not like the situation will change any if I tell them or not!"

"So you might as well not tell them." Severus couldn't help pointing out to Harry. _Dumbledore knows that they will have to find out eventually, right? It's not as if rumors won't be all over the school by our mid-meal._

"It can wait until absolutely necessary." Dumbledore reached across his desk to try to pat Harry's arm, which Harry pulled away quickly.

Harry's mind was racing. _I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this! _Everything in him was screaming. "Can I at least have my wand back?" Harry tried again.

"Your wand back?" Dumbledore repeated. He looked over at the Potions Master. "Severus?" He implored.

"Yes, Headmaster?" Severus replied stiffly, feeling like a schoolchild again.

"Why did you confiscate young Harry's wand?"

_Great, he's going to make me admit it in front of Potter._ Severus cleared his throat. "May we speak in private, Headmaster?"

"Oh, I think I should stay here – the more time together, the better the charge, you know." Harry smirked. _Take that, Snape!_

Severus sighed, wishing he could be anywhere else. "I did not trust him with it, Headmaster." Severus said, sending a glare Harry's way.

"You did not... trust him?" Dumbledore prodded.

_Yes, go ahead Albus, make this harder on me._ "I feel that the boy is emotionally unstable, that as soon as he gets a chance, he will curse me when I'm not looking." Severus shrugged. "I simply cannot be on guard 24/7, Albus – in the time that I am not teaching or patrolling halls, I would like to be able to relax to a degree, and simply cannot when I know that Potter has a wand and the ability to curse me in some way." _Right – make it sound as if Potter is irresponsible – which is true, and that you are simply concerned for your life – which is true. Throw it all back on Potter's immaturity._

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Your thoughts are well-founded, Severus. If I had someone hate me as much as Potter does you, I would be alarmed."

Severus sat stiffly. _Leave it to Albus to throw one back on you._

"However," Dumbledore continued, turning to Harry. "I should have to remind you, Harry, of a few things. First off, you do realize that if you kill Professor Snape, you indeed will suffer a long agonizing death shortly after, so unless you have a death wish-"

"I've got it – no killing curses." Harry muttered. _I've had enough of those, anyway._

"And I wouldn't recommending putting your professor in a body-bind while he's asleep – it will highly inconvenience you if you want to leave the bed at all." Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye. Severus was too busy picturing himself being cursed to find the image funny.

"And then there is Stupefying him... that would make him topple to the floor." Dumbledore made a 'tsking' sound as he shook his head. "I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, Harry, but you are a very small person – you would never be able to lift him. And then there is the issue of having to lift the curse – I should doubt Severus would be too pleased with you, and you might have to suffer the indignity of losing hundreds of points from Gryffindor. You also must realize that cursing your professors is against Hogwarts rules, and anyone who does is subject to expulsion." Dumbledore looked at Severus. "Give him his wand, Severus."

"I don't have it." Severus admitted. "Madame Pomfrey does."

"Simple then!" Dumbledore said. "Harry, you shall get it before your first class. Peppermint drop?" He offered a white and red striped candy to Harry, who shook his head 'no'.

"I wasn't planning on cursing him, anyway." Harry muttered. He remembered something. "Professor Dumbledore, please tell Snape to go easier on me – he keeps taking House points away from me!"

"For disrespect and disobeying." Severus defended himself. He loved taking away Gryffindor House points, and had no trouble admitting that to himself. At least spending so much time around Potter would have it's advantages. If he wasn't allowed to take House points, all was lost.

Dumbledore let out a big breath through his teeth. "Well, on one hand Severus, if I let you take away Gryffindor House points, Gryffindor won't have any by Tuesday. On the other hand, if I don't let you take away Gryffindor House points, the Gryffindor students will think they can do whatever they want. On the other hand, I have heard rumors of you taking advantage of your privileges." Dumbledore scratched at his long beard. "On the other hand, if you don't take away Gryffindor House points, the other Houses will accuse you of favoritism. On the other hand, you will wind up taking points away from Potter for doing things that don't have anything to do with school rules, such as rolling over in bed too much or swallowing too loud. On the other hand, you have to be able to take points away from Potter, or he'll wind up taking advantage of you. On the other hand-"

"You ran out of hands long ago!" Harry said impatiently, squirming in his seat.

Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry and smiled. "Well, indeed I did, Harry!" Dumbledore looked at Severus. "You may continue to give and pull House points, Severus, but I expect you to be fair." He looked at the two of them. "Anything else we failed to cover, gentlemen?"

"I need to get my bag out of my dormitory." Harry spoke up, ignoring Snape's eye rolling at yet _another_ question. "It has my books, quill, and ink in it – I need it."

Dumbledore nodded. "Go on ahead, Harry. Just remember to make a plan of when and where to meet as soon as you can, and to return to the infirmary immediately as soon as you start to feel the slightest bit ill. Understand?"

"Yes." Harry said at the same time as Severus. Harry stiffened. He just did _not_ do that.

The incident was not lost on Dumbledore, who chuckled. "Get to the Great Hall – Harry, you may join your peers, and Severus, the staff."

Severus and Harry both stood up and thanked Dumbledore before leaving the office. They walked silently together for a few minutes before Snape spoke. "What are you doing at ten o'clock this morning, Potter?"

"Herbology." Harry sighed. "What are you doing at eleven?"

"First years Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs." Severus couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Merlin, I hate first-years." _Shut up, Severus, before you start making conversation with Potter. _"Lunch at the Great Hall at twelve – what are you doing at one forty-five?"

"Leaving Charms for Advanced Potions." He looked at Snape and rolled his eyed. "With _you_."

"Excellent." Severus said, using full-fledged sarcasm. "Two hours in the presence of _the_ Harry Potter. Don't be surprised if I ask you a lot of questions in class – talking to each other is supposed to help the charge."

"Oh joy." Harry was using sarcasm as well. "Then I have Defense Against the Dark Arts at four."

"Is that your schedule _every_ day?" Severus asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach telling him that it was. Just because his own schedule was different every day didn't mean Potter's was – Severus had to teach first-year Gryffindor and Slytherins, then first-year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws, then second-year Gryffindor and Slytherins... and so on, not to mention having Advanced Potions classes lasting two hours every day. He simply couldn't teach every class every day.

Harry just nodded, looking at his feet. "Well, I'm that busy each day, least ways. Not the same classes and same times... but I do have Advanced Potions nearly every day." He didn't want to look Snape in his cold dark eyes.

Severus sighed. "So I can assume that you will meet me in the infirmary at five? That will give us an hour before supper to... charge." He finished lamely. He didn't really know how he would ever be able to tolerate spending time with Potter – what would they do this summer when Snape had nothing to grade, no tests to write, when Potter had no homework? They might be forced to... talk.

Harry also sighed. "I'd like to be able to spend some time with my friends-"

"You can do that during meals. And class – you never seem to be paying attention, anyhow." Severus couldn't help but snap. _He acts as if I _want _to spend time with him! I would have rather bonded with Filch, _he thought of the staff member who no one liked. Period.

"I am too! How would you know? You're only-" Harry's temper was rising.

"Why don't you get your bag?" Severus snapped. "Or you will miss breakfast and time to gab with your _friends_." Severus wasn't quite sure was he meant by his tone of the word 'friends', but he didn't worry about it as he hurried off to the Great Hall, his black cloak billowing behind him.


	7. Avoiding the Truth

**Chapter Seven**

"**Avoiding the Truth..."**

* * *

When Harry stepped through the portrait hole, he had expected the Gryffindor Common Room to be empty. But it wasn't. For as soon as he stepped in, he heard his name shouted out and was immediately smothered in hugs.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"We were so worried!" Ginny added.

"Way to go, mate. You ask my sister to be your girlfriend and then you _faint_ on her. Right – real smooth." Ron punched Harry playfully in the arm, grinning.

Harry gave a forced chuckle. "H-Hey guys." He said. "I-I was just going to get my bag and go down to the Great Hall for breakfast – it officially starts in five minutes, you know."

"So what happened? What did you faint?" Ginny wanted to know, reaching out and caressing Harry's arm gently.

Harry jerked back as a natural reflex. He had always been like that – whenever someone laid a finger on him, even with good intentions, he always gave a little jump. But now he had even more of a reason – he didn't know if he would be allowed to date Ginny. He couldn't lead her on... that would only make it worse.

"S-Sorry." _Why do I keep stuttering? _"I'm just tired."

Ginny, Ron and Hermione nodded, understandably. "What happened?" Hermione pressed.

"What happened?" Harry stalled. _What did happen? I was nervous.. no, too weak. My scar hurt? No that will make them worry. _"I ate something bad." Harry announced. He _was_ telling the truth there – except that he didn't touch that Contineo Potion, no matter what Snape and Dumbledore believed.

"I, er, need to get my bag." He edged away from them before jogging up the stairs to his dormitory.

Bag in hand, he jogged down the stairs again, to find that Ron and Hermione had left, leaving Ginny alone in the Common Room. She smiled at him. "They wanted to leave us alone." She smiled, giving Harry a big hug, wrapping her arms around his chest, leaning her head against his bony chest. "I was so worried."

Harry slightly raised his arms, awkwardly. He supposed he should hug her back, but... was he allowed to? "Well, we'd better get to the Great Hall." The nervousness as in his voice.

Ginny pulled away and gave him a searching look. "Something's up." She stated. She said it as a fact, not just a lurking suspicion. Growing up with Fred and George as brothers, Harry supposed that suspicion was just part of her nature.

He sighed. "Yes Ginny, something is up. I, er, can't explain it right now, but I assure you," he took her chin into his hand. "it has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I love you."

The next thing Harry knew was that Ginny's mouth was on his. It felt good, like electricity jolting from her mouth to his. He... he couldn't think straight. It was so... wrong. He couldn't do this to her. Not now. Not before he knew what was going on.

Harry pulled away reluctantly. "If we don't stop now, we'll probably miss breakfast." He laughed. "I don't know what we could tell Professor Binn's - "Sorry Professor – I was too busy snogging my girlfriend to attend your boring lecture'?"

Ginny giggled. "I love you, Harry." She said softly, taking his hand and leading him out of the portrait hole.

* * *

_Where is he? _Severus wondered, looking over at the Gryffindor table. _There's Granger and Weasley... just my luck, Potter being the one taking the Potion. Just like his father – the most irresponsible, irrational, immature- Weasley. Where's the Weasley girl? _He scanned the Gryffindor table wildly, his throat swelling in panic. _Potter. He's with the Weasley girl!_ Severus gripped the edge of the table, trying to keep calm. _Doesn't he realize the importance of meals? _They were in the same room, though far apart, during meals. It was important to attend every meal, unless they were somewhere else together!

"Is something wrong, Severus?" Minerva McGonagall asked quietly.

Severus shook his head, his black hair falling in front of his face. He couldn't tell Minerva – no, not yet. The quieter they could keep their Bond for now, the better. Of course, Minerva would find out eventually – all of the Hogwarts students would. And what with it being such a rare Potion – and with Harry Potter! - it would be all over _The Daily Prophet. Just what I need, _Severus grimaced.

"Is it about the Potter boy?" She asked in so low a whisper that Severus could barely hear her.

Severus jerked his head up. "How did you know?" He hissed.

"Dumbledore told me." She said calmly, delicately taking a bite of her pancake. "Don't look so surprised, Severus – you know how quickly news can spread here."

"Terrific." Severus muttered, stirring the contents of his plate around. He hadn't been able to eat one bite of it. Supper the previous night seemed so long ago. It seemed like his world had been drastically turned upside-down for ages, not mere hours.

"If you ever want to talk about it..." she let him know gently.

Severus just scowled. "Where is that child?" He groaned, growing more apprehensive by the moment. His look of worry translated into a look of anger, which explained the uncomfortable look of all Gryffindors whenever he looked back over at their table.

"He's hardly a child, Severus." Minerva calmly took a sip of her tea. "He has been of-age for a year now. And it has been hard to think of him as a child for years now – ever since his fourth year, really."

"He is eighteen." Severus gripped his fork with such force it looked as if he were trying to bend it in two. "A mere infant."

Minerva just laughed that off. "He has seen more than most eighteen year olds I know. His life has been hard, Severus. Please don't make it even harder on him."

_Of course we think of _the _Harry Potter first, _he scoffed silently. _His poor life has been oh so hard... nobody else's can compare. After all, what is harder than using a few elementary skills? He had help for getting the Philosopher's Stone; he would have died had the ruddy phoenix not come down into the Chamber of Secrets; he was helped through the Tri-Wizard Tournament, guaranteed to never lose. Oh, but he had to look into the face of Voldemort and try to kill him. I suppose that _cannot _be harder than having to con one of the greatest living Wizards that you are indeed on his side, while having to-_ He stopped himself. He didn't like to think about his past, and avoided doing so as much as possible. It brought back too many painful memories of anger, fright, abuse and other situations that only a true Slytherin could worm his way out of.

"There he is." Minerva subtly nudged him and with a nod of her head, pointed towards to figures heading towards the Gryffindor table from the doors of the Great Hall.

Severus stared hard. There was Potter, looking exactly how he had left him, with his bag... being led by the hand to the Gryffindor table by Ginny Weasley. _What is the boy thinking? Holding her hand? Has he gone absolutely mad?_

"He doesn't know, does he?" Minerva inquired knowingly.

_Guilty. _"Yes, well, somehow we managed to skip over that part last night." Severus couldn't meet Minerva's eyes, but he knew she was looking disapprovingly at him.

"I see. And when exactly were you planning on telling him? You know, just because you are his professor and nineteen years his senior does not mean that you can just leave him in the dark. He is in the same position you are – the two of you are _equals_, for Merlin's sake." She had been scolding Severus for years. She loved him, as a very dear friend, and knew that he considered her one as well, even though he had trouble showing it in front of students. He, for some reason, deemed it necessary to appear aloof and just _evil_ in front of his students and anyone he wasn't close to.

"Don't say that!" He growled, still keeping his voice low. It would do no good for him to lose control in front of the entire school. "We are not _equals_."

"You both took the Potion – you both need each other like you need water. How is that not equals?" She demanded.

How could he tell her that that was one of the most degrading things he had ever been told. To be an equivalent to James Potter's _son_? _It makes sense, what she's saying... but no, it's not true. _"In the Bond only." He said stiffly. "Not otherwise."

She snorted. "Of course not, Severus." She patted his arm. "But all the details of the Bond deserve to be shared. He _needs_ to know."

"And he will." Severus knew it was a losing battle arguing with Minerva. "I'll tell him."

* * *

"I ate something bad." Harry told his fellow Gryffindors for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, at lunch. So far Harry had felt fine, not sick at all. He had pretended not to notice Snape's stares and angry looks throughout the day, and didn't know why he was getting them. It wasn't like he was hiding in the nearest broom closet and shagging Ginny – she just like to hold his hand as they walked the corridors. And even if he _was_ shagging Ginny every second he got, it wasn't like that was Snape's business.

"So it wasn't any Dark Lord stuff?" Seamus looked disappointed.

Harry shook his head. "That stuff is done for good, Seamus – you know that."

"So did Madame Pomfrey have any weird Potions to give you, to make you feel better?" An actual seventh year, not a student that was actually a year older than the seventh years should be, asked.

"No." Was all Harry said. Which was true – he had been given so many Potions since his first visit to the infirmary that very few seemed "weird" to him. Though he could think of a couple Potions that he wished he had never heard of, like Contineo Potion.

"You've no interesting information to give us, just that you had a a bad piece of meat?" Ron asked. "Come on – no one else got sick. Why only you?"

Harry hadn't thought that part of his lie that thoroughly. "I don't know." He rolled his eyes. "Expect me to have all the answers, what don't you?"

"I think you're lying, mate." Ron whispered in Harry's ear. "A stomachache doesn't make you black out – come on, mate."

"Shut up." Harry found himself hissing. "Not another word – to anyone!" He quickly got into a conversation with a fellow Gryffindor about the upcoming Quidditch match, which was supposed to take place that weekend. But truth be told, Harry's mind was on anything but Quidditch.

_For once, Ron! For once you had to think, just when I didn't want you to! That means Hermione has already got my 'illness' connected to Snape... _He looked over at his bushy-haired friend, who had her nose in _Transfiguration Today_. With any luck, maybe she had bought his story.

He squirmed, wishing he could get the knot out of his stomach. It felt like a pit, really... it almost hurt it was so unbearable. He knew it was just because of how unsettling his situation was, and how he felt about it, but he still hated it. It made him feel so miserable, and kept his mind on his worries more than he would have liked.

It only took a glance over at the Head table to see that Snape was looking calculatingly at him. Harry shot up a look that pretty much summed up his feelings – it said "sod off". Apparently Snape understood, because he shot back a look before turning to his meal. A look that Harry was pretty sure said "five points from Gryffindor".

Harry pushed his plate away from him and laid his head on his arms down on the table. He just wanted to go to sleep, to find it all a bad dream... he was tired of the truth. He wished that Dumbledore would have not told him the truth, for once.


	8. And Letting It Come Out

**Chapter Eight**

"**...And Letting It Come Out"**

* * *

As soon as Harry stepped into the infirmary at seven o'clock that evening, he was grabbed by a venomous looking Snape. "You think this is funny, do you? You think this is a game?" His black eyes bored into Harry's green ones and it took everything Harry had to not look away. But he could not look away – that would be forfeiting in the war.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said, defiantly.

"Oh, but I think you do." Snape said, tightening his grip on Harry. "Am I correct to assume that you think that you can do whatever you please, whatever you want, now that there's this Bond between- between us?"

Harry decided to keep playing dumb. Maybe that way he could figure out what Snape was talking about. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You and the Weasley girl." Snape snarled, bringing his face closer to Harry's than Harry found comfortable. "Are you _mad_, Potter?"

"I asked you and Professor Dumbledore if I could continue to date Ginny, and neither of you said that I couldn't." Harry challenged.

"If you can recall, Potter, I hadn't finished telling you everything. Have you already forgotten your quip? What was it... 'I'm still in the room'?" Severus wouldn't be able to do it. No, he couldn't. Potter was too obnoxious and oblivious to everything around him.

"Would you quit playing games? What's going on?" Harry demanded.

Severus sighed. There weren't many ways to go about telling him. "Dumbledore has been doing quite a bit of research regarding the Contineo Potion. It seemed that in the case of Nicholas and Rubella Finkle-"

"Spit it out!" Harry exclaimed, growing impatient.

He let go of Harry and walked over to the tall window of the infirmary, looking out of it. What was he supposed to tell him? He couldn't just blurt out the truth the way Dumbledore had to him – it was too harsh. He hated Potter, but no one deserved to be told bluntly.

Severus looked over at Potter, who was standing leaning against the wall, next to the infirmary door. The boy was small, pale and obviously as uncomfortable with everything as he himself was. For a moment, Severus felt a flicker of pity for Potter, but just a flicker.

"Like I said before, there has only been a handful of people that have suffered the consequences of taking Contineo Potion. The first known people to take it were Gonzales and Albus... I don't know what their last names were. They invented the Contineo Potion, and without knowing what it did, the idiots took some. They died within two days, because they didn't understand what the Potion wanted them to do."

Harry nodded. He knew if he said something, it would get Snape distracted and then he would never finish.

"The next people who took it survived two years. They understood that staying together would keep them alive, but they could only stay apart for a few hours at a time before they would start to feel weak, and then sick – they died. The next two people made it five years, the next eight."

"How did they die?" Harry asked in a low voice. _Snape seems really nervous, _he noticed.

"Because they weren't careful." Snape said. "They didn't go back to one another the second they began to feel ill. It became like a game to them, and it killed them."

Harry felt the need to say something, but he didn't know what. "You said two people drank it and lived more than ten years." Harry said, not moving from his position by the door.

Severus nodded, looking out the window, but not at particularly anything at he spoke. He couldn't look at Harry – it would make what he was about to say unbearable.

"The Finkles lived to be to be in their eighties. They lived for forty years bonded the way they were, the way we are." Severus forced himself to maintain his control and not to let the sob out that was forming in his throat. He hadn't cried in years, not even when Lily died, and wasn't about to start now.

"Nicholas and Rubella immediately did what they had to do; they accepted it, adjusted, and moved on." _How can you _not _be blunt about this?_

"Did what they had to do?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded. "They embraced their bond in every way possible, formed new ones, et cetera, et cetera."

"So... what's that mean for-for us?" Harry didn't like referring to Snape and himself as "us".

"You're not making this easy, Potter." Severus growled. _Does he want me to just say it? Yes, say it; you have never been one to avoid telling the truth – just don't say it or do. _"Let me lay it out his way; Nicholas and Rubella were not married when they were connected by this Potion."

* * *

Harry's mouth went cotton dry. His mind froze – he didn't know what to think. "A-And the other people who took the Potion... never married?"

"It could be a mere coincidence." Severus continued, looking out the window. _Why are those two Slytherins attacking that Hufflepuff? Nice Severus – forget about your House duties, why don't you? How are you going to be a suitable Head of House with all of this going on?_

"But..." Harry urged Snape to continue. _Please just leave it at that. Please just let that be an example... oh Merlin, please..._

"Not 'buts'." Severus vaguely said, his attention on the two Slytherins pulling the Hufflepuff girl's hair. He turned from the window, knowing that as much as he would give to be anywhere, grading tests, in the presence of the Dark Lord... he had to be speaking to Harry Potter about the last subject Severus had expected he would ever be talking to him about. "However," he continued.

Harry rolled his eyes. _Leave it to Snape to pull that kind of shite over on me, _he thought.

"However, after discussing the matter very thoroughly with Professor Dumbledore, it does seem that the more legal, physical and emotional bonds that are made, the better." Severus let it out reluctantly.

"B-B-But Nicholas and Rubella were... were a man and woman!" Harry searched wildly for a way out. "Maybe it's different that way! Maybe it is just a coincidence! You are not saying that their circumstances mean... that we should... that you and I..." He was beginning to feel a little faint, and must have looked that way as well.

"Breathe, Potter." Severus said quietly, as he mulled over their options for the seventh hundredth time since discovering a student had indeed drank Longbottom's Potion. He wasn't going to take Dumbledore's advice – he and Potter were both adults, legally – they could choose what they wanted and didn't want to do. It wouldn't be pretty, it would never be romantic. He hardly saw how a marriage could help the Bond at all, except that in the Finkles' time, if you were going to live together, you had to be married. So he and Potter would just have to practically be so, except no marriage and no sex. However, they would have to be monogamous with each other and have no sexual partners – they could not risk the effect that could have on the Bond. They could not. He had sworn to himself that he would protect Lily's son at all costs, and this was just another part of that.

"Go lay down." Severus returned to the window. The Hufflepuff girl had gone, and the two Slytherins were now being scolded by Minerva. _Wonderful, now she will think I cannot Head my own House, _he thought with a grimace.

"What's going to happen?" Harry asked, sounding much braver than he felt as he sat down on a bad, not laying down – just sitting.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to make the necessary arrangements." Severus said, turning from the window and drawing the curtains over. The last thing he needed was for some nosy Gryffindor to see him in the infirmary with Potter. "However, I told him to not and say we did."

"Huh?" Harry asked, more confused than ever.

"Why? Did you want an elaborate marriage ceremony, Potter?" Severus sneered.

"No! No." Harry said quickly. "I-I've just only... never mind." He looked down at his hands, resting in his lap. He wanted to cry. He wanted to just lie down and die. He had been through a lot, but being bit by a Basilisk hadn't hurt as much as knowing that he had that Bond with Snape.

Severus walked over to a small dresser that held pajamas for the injured, bandages, and other items. He leaned on it and stared at himself in the mirror. _This isn't happening, _he thought. He was used to bad things happening to him – in the past he had just accepted the new bad things and moved on. But for some reason, so much seemed at stake here. Before, it had been simple, usually because he thought he was going to be killed shortly. However, the reason he dreaded this so much was because he would have to live with it. Forever. With _the_ Harry Potter.

Madame Pomfrey bustled in from a side room. Harry knew from spending much time in the infirmary in the past that the rooms through that door were her private chambers. "Oi! Severus, Harry – you're here! Right on time – will you be needing any Dreamless Sleep Potion tonight?"

Harry had begun to say "no", but Snape intervened. "Yes, Madame Pomfrey – he does." He motioned to Harry.

"I do not!" Harry demanded, indignantly. "I don't need some stupid Potion to lull me to sleep, thank you very much." He very purposely insulted a Potion, hoping it might ruffle Snape's feathers.

But it didn't seem to. "Potter," Snape snapped. "You are still a student here, and while you are a student here, you will obey your professors. Do I make myself clear?" He pronounced each word carefully, as if Harry were eight-years-old.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "I refuse to be bullied, _Professor _Snape. I do _not_ need the Potion, and will _not_ use it."

Madame Pomfrey looked at Harry imploringly. "Just this one last night, Harry. I assume that after tonight..?" She looked at Severus, a question mark all over her face, to which he nodded to ever so slightly, a motion which was not lost on Harry.

"What's after tonight?" He asked suspiciously. "I am eighteen – legally an adult by both Wizarding and Muggle standards – tell me."

"Take the Potion, Potter!" Severus snarled. Getting Potter asleep was Severus' only hope of being able to concentrate on writing up tests that night.

"I am sure if you just explained that you wanted some peace and quiet, Harry would be glad to comply by studying for his Transfiguration test, which he must take tomorrow, if I am not mistaken." Nobody had heard Dumbledore come in, not even Severus.

"I refuse to be drugged every night for the rest of my life just so he can get some quiet." Harry complained to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore still could not help but find the whole situation amusing. "You do not have to take it, Harry, as long as you can promise both me and Professor Snape that you will be asleep by eleven-thirty. You seemed exhausted all day today, and that cannot be good for your health or grades." He turned to Severus. "Did you tell the boy?"

Another slight nod of Severus' confirmed it. Dumbledore clapped his hands once. "Then we need to have another discussion! Both of you, sit down!" He pointed his wand and two arm chairs made themselves present in the middle of the floor. He added another one for himself facing the other two and made himself comfortable.

"Harry, you understand that you cannot continue to court this young girl." Dumbledore's eyes were sympathetic as he looked through his half-moon glasses.

"All Snape did was tell me that he and I weren't gonna get married to each other!" Harry burst out, ignoring Dumbledore's correct of "Professor Snape, Harry".

"There is simply no point in continuing to court her." Dumbledore said. "You must remain monogamous with Professor Snape as if you were married to him – you may not run off and have other sexual partners. Do you realize how that could effect the Bond?" Dumbledore shook his head. "It's unacceptable."

Harry rolled his eyes, not quite taking it all on. "Right. So you expect me to be a virgin for the rest of my life. Uh-huh."

Professor Dumbledore gave a half smile. "Well... unless you and Severus decide that underneath all that hatred, there is a fiery, burning passion for one another," Severus did his best to keep a straight face and not gag, "then, yes, Harry. That is what is expected of you."

"That's not _fair_!" Harry shouted, jumping out of his chair in rage. "It's always 'you need to do this, Harry', 'you have to do this, Harry', 'this is what is expected of you, Mr. Potter'... what about what I want? It's not fair!"

"Who put the fool-idea that life was fair into your head, Potter?" Severus sneered. "Sit down." _Just like his father – everything has to go his way and won't take 'no' for an answer'._

Harry scoffed. "Psh. 'Sit down'. Easy for you to say – it's not like _you're_ losing anything here." _After all, who would want to marry that slimy old snake?_

"Sit down, Harry, please." Dumbledore implored, sending a look over to Severus that Severus clearly read as "let me handle this" - a look Severus never quite trusted. "We are not saying that you cannot be friends with the girl, or even expect you to not feel the way you do about her, but this is for her just as much as it is for you. How would you like to accidentally make this Bond a threesome?"

_Shit_. "I see your point, Professor." Harry groaned, sitting down again and putting his head in his hands. He immediately felt a numbness come over him, the numbness that came over him every time he was about to do something he didn't want to do. "B-But what do I tell her?"

"I'm sure you will figure it out, Harry." The Headmaster said kindly. "And it is not as if this won't change – it very well could. Professor Snape is working on discovering a counter-Potion."

Harry looked up at the stern, sallow man sitting beside him, whose onyx eyes refused to meet Harry's green ones. Harry didn't like Snape in the slightest, but... _You trust him, Harry. He hates you, but will do his best to take care of it. It's not like he wants to be in this situation, either._

"Okay." Harry said in a shaky voice. "Um... can I tell Ginny about the Bond?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you may tell Ginny and Ginny only. Tell her outside – these very castle walls have ears." He chuckled. "And we would prefer you to wait to tell Ron and Hermione for as long as possible. If they get involved, they will set out to try to rescue you, and we will be left with a much larger disaster than we already have."

_And again, the man has a point, _Harry thought bitterly.

"Now," Professor Dumbledore continued. "I do not expect the two of you to enjoy the time you spend together, but for your sakes, as long as you are living at Hogwarts, I am going to have to lay out some ground rules for the both of you. One," he held up one long wrinkled finger, "you keep this quiet. You do not tell anyone anything to give them suspicion that anything is out of ordinary."

_Of course, _Severus was all for that one. If the other students knew, his life would get much harder.

"And on that note, two, just in case the two of you _do_ get fond of each other, no public displays of affection."

That made Harry gag. "No! Definitely not, won't happen."

"The affection or the display of it?" Dumbledore teased. "And we are not only speaking of romantic affection, Harry – you two are known for hating each other. A kind word or smile could let this out of the bag before we're ready."

_I assure you, it will not happen, _Severus silently growled. He didn't get emotionally close to _anyone_, but definitely not Potter/

"Three is for you, Severus. You may take House Points away from Harry at any given time, but you must be fair, like we discussed this morning. You cannot take away House Points for things such as annoying habits, hygiene or cleanliness. Harry, if you find anything to be unfair, please check with me and we will see what we can do." Dumbledore paused. "And feel free to pull activities and privileges, such as Quidditch and Hogsmeade trips. Detention will not do him much good any longer."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long. "Four, Harry, is that you do not sabotage the Professor's work. That includes time spent working on lesson plans and things. I know Severus will work far into the night on things that could be done at other times, but you will _have_ to deal with it, Harry. If you purposely go around making noise when he needs quiet, or burning parchment you know you shouldn't, expect many privileges to be taken away."

"And I think we're done here." He chuckled as he stood up and pointed his wand at his now empty armchair – it disappeared. He smiled. It was as if he found the Bond very amusing, like a joke.

As if on cue, both Severus and Harry stood up at the same time. The last thing either of them needed was a bruised coccyx from Dumbledore taking a chair right out from under them. _But then again, I suppose he would just find that amusing as well, _Severus thought wryly.


	9. Reflection

**Chapter Nine**

"**Reflection"**

* * *

Harry felt thoroughly disgusting as he slid into bed next to Snape. The hook-nosed, greasy-haired man was writing on a piece of parchment, no doubt creating a test that he would duplicate onto others pieces of parchment, by magic, of course.

Harry, nor Snape, had bothered to change out of their robes or clothes underneath. Not a word was exchanged between them – the silence was awkward, but conversation would be even more so. Besides, Snape wanted quiet. Harry didn't really feel like talking, anyhow.

"I still can't date Ginny, can't I?" Harry asked, gloomily.

"No, Potter – you can't." Snape said. "Do you see the point in it? You will be spending every evening and night in my company, and unless you want to put your girlfriend through what we are, I suggest you break it off." He didn't say it as a suggestion – he said it as an order.

_How am I supposed to tell Ginny? _He thought, feeling sick at the thought. _'Hey Ginny, you are my world, I love you and want to be the father of your children, but am instead going to _practically_marry this slimy excuse of a Potions teacher'?_

_How would it hurt her least? By telling her the truth, right? Ginny would much rather know that I love her and want to be with her than thinking I don't... but how will it hurt me least? I... I don't think I can tell her the truth. To speak it out loud? That would be... defeat._

Truth be told, Harry knew that whether he spoke the words out loud or not, he would have to spend the rest of his life with Professor Severus Snape. But saying the words out loud would make it so much more real, so much less of a nightmare or more of a reality, so less of a haze that gave Harry horrible feelings in his stomach that made him think his insides were being strangled.

Harry opened his Transfiguration book and tried to concentrate, but found it too hard. _Maybe I should send her a letter? What could I say? 'Dear Ginny, I didn't know how to tell you, so...' no. Oh, and what are the Weasley's going to think of me now? Ron won't admit it, but he's proud that his sister is dating The-Boy-Who-Lived, and Mrs. Weasley! She is practically planning the wedding now! Oh Merlin, I need the Weasleys... they are the only family I've got! I need them to stand by me!_

Meanwhile, Severus was trying to concentrate on creating the tests for the third-years. He knew he could do what the rest of the professors did – write up enough tests for three years of first-years (for example) and just rotate them around. It saved a lot of time and effort, true enough, but Severus needed something to spend the time and effort on. He didn't like to spend time with people, to talk with people, to get to know people, like the other professors, like other people, did. He didn't like to get close to people – whenever you trusted someone and learned to love them, they either betrayed you or die.

_Sillyweed, the flank of a Feegle and dried spiders are the basic properties to which Potion? What does the said Potion do?_

Coming up with appropriate questions for the right years was actually relatively hard work – Severus liked to challenge his students. Of course, as the Head of House for the Slytherins, he could always put a bug in their ears for what to study up on, but he didn't encourage the cheating. No, they did that all by themselves, but Severus could never scold them for it – he was a Slytherin himself. Trickery and manipulation was in his blood, just as it was in theirs.

_Name the ingredients necessary to create one of the three Potions listed below._

Severus liked to make the students think. No, he wasn't like Flitwick who practically gave away answers, who gave multiple choice answers or one word answers. No, if his students weren't thinking, they weren't learning. True, that Granger girl and Draco Malfoy were the only seventh years who knew anything about Potions, but if one student walked away from his class with something in their otherwise empty heads, it was worth it. It was true, he did want to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but until he was given the opportunity, he would teach Potions. At least it was something he was good at – at least he didn't have a job like Filch's.

_I would give anything to trade places with Filch right now, _Severus wrinkled his nose in distaste at the boy sitting next to him, whose green eyes had stared at the same page in Transfiguration page without blinking, without turning the page. His hatred for the situation he was currently in went further than his mere hatred for the boy. No, it went much deeper; the idea of having to spend the rest of his life with Lily's child tore a hole in his stomach; the idea of having to spend the rest of his life with James' killed him; having to spend the rest of his life with anyone nineteen years his junior was uncomfortable, as well. The idea of being married had never set well with Severus, really. He had dreamed of being with Lily, even after she had married James Potter. But of course, after that one October 31st, it was all ripped from Severus, and he had not only given up on the idea of marriage, but also the ideas of love and people. He distanced himself from everyone he could; teachers retired, students left after seven years, friends would move, die, betray you... no, the only person Severus could really trust was himself, and sometimes he doubted that, even.

There was Dumbledore, and Minerva, of course. But those two had been with him for years, and had been there for him before Lily died and after. They had tried to comfort him, had backed off when he made it evident that he didn't want their comfort, but still always remained close by, just in case. Severus considered them friends – he considered them both trustworthy, even though he didn't agree with how Dumbledore went about treating the Potter boy. But aside from them, Severus had nobody.

Severus glanced back at Potter, who was still staring at the same page of his Transfiguration book. His pale face had grown ever paler over the past twenty-four hours – no doubt it was to a lack of eating. Severus himself had eaten barely anything that day, himself. He had been fretting over their Bond too much to eat.

He cleared his throat, awkwardly. Potter didn't look up from his book, but just stared at it. "I am going down to the Slytherin Common Room." He announced in a gruff voice. "I shall be back shortly."

_Half an hour won't hurt at all, _he told himself as he stood up and swept towards the door to the infirmary. He stopped, considering checking to make sure that Potter had heard him, but decided against it. He left the infirmary, his robes sweeping elegantly.

* * *

_You could tell her that you have one of those sexually-transmitted Muggle illnesses, _Harry thought. _You could tell her that Dudley once have must spit in your ravioli. But where would Dudley have gotten a sexually-transmitted disease?_

_Okay, scratch that idea, _he resumed to the drawing board. _You could tell Ginny that you... no... how about... nah... I can't break her heart – I can't. I have to do this gently, and in the best way possible... but how?_

_You could tell her that you just found out that you are the father of a child... yeah... whose child? Hmm... someone from the War? No, she knows I wouldn't have sex during that kind of situation... from fourth year, from the Tri-Wizard Tournament? Yes... one of those French girls... maybe-_

His thoughts were interrupted by Snape clearing his throat. Harry heard him, but just narrowed his eyes, pretending to concentrate on the book. He couldn't put into words how angry he was with Snape – was it enough that he had made Harry's life a living hell in the past seven years? No, he insisted on making it a living hell for the rest of his life. _Oh, why didn't Voldemort just kill me?_ Harry thought, frustrated.

"I am going down to the Slytherin Common Room." Snape was apparently thinking that Harry was listening. Well, he was, but he didn't care. "I shall be back shortly."

_What happened to this 'spend every second together between seven and seven'?"_ Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes unless Snape was watching. He didn't want to give Snape the satisfaction of taking five more points from Gryffindor when, thanks to his constant company with the man, they were behind Slytherin again... which was what Snape, of course, wanted.

Harry felt Snape get up and leave the infirmary. Harry felt his muscles immediately become less tense, his breathing more relaxed. _Just being around the man can kill you, _Harry thought, bitterly. _I'll probably be dead before the end of this school year, at this rate. I'll probably live longer _out _of his life than in it._

It was still so hard for Harry to wrap his mind around the situation. If he didn't stay close to Snape for a certain amount of time, he'd die? How close was close? Did they have to touch? Eye contact could help, Harry knew, and speaking to each other, though Harry knew that both he and Snape had trouble with the latter.

_Maybe we don't have to speak civilly, _Harry wryly thought. _Speaking to each other rudely is easy._ That was true – it was too easy to toss insults at Snape, and come up with cruel nicknames. Unfortunately, Snape was just as creative, or even better at it – his insults fell thick and hard, and he had the power to ruin Harry's last school year by taking away enough House points for them to lose the House cup.

Harry couldn't remember feeling more miserable than he had in the past twenty-four hours. Never ever. Not when he thought Ron had died in the chess game, not when he first saw Voldemort, not when he got bit by the basilisk, not when the entire school thought he was the heir to Slytherin... and more. He hadn't even felt worse when he had thought he was going to die. As a matter of fact, Harry started to wonder if he wanted to die. What if he just went to sleep and never woke up? That would be pleasant enough – he would never have to deal with Snape again.

Harry put his book away and reached for the sleeping drought. Taking a swig of it, he wiped his mouth of the foul tasting stuff and used his wand to extinguish what torches he could in the infirmary (a few were charmed to stay forever lit, so that Madame Pomfrey could see what she was doing when she came to check on her patients in the middle of the night). He settled down to go to sleep, wearing his shoes, clothes, robes... the ones he had been wearing the previous day. He would go to sleep before Snape came back, so at least he wouldn't have to put up with the miserable git.

_It'll be like being dead, _Harry thought gloomily. _When you are asleep, you can't feel anything._

* * *

"Professor!" Ben Howe jumped off the settee when Severus Snape strode into the Slytherin Common Room. "Where have you been? You were not here last night!"

"Indeed. Am I obligated to visit the Slytherins every night?" Severus snapped at the boy. He had never liked the Howe boy. _A Mud-blood... and he claims to be a half-blood! _Severus knew as well as any other Slytherin did that blood was very important in the House, but to _lie_ about it so outright? The least he could do was to come out with a clever ruse – maybe claim that his mother had cheated on his father, who was a Wizard, and that was why he was a half-blood... but to give such a lie that was not thought out well? Not Slytherin at all – Severus had tried more than once to get the boy moved to Hufflepuff.

"Professor Snape," a first-year approached him, holding shuffles of parchment. "Can you help me? I'm kinda stuck with this question on my Charms homework."

Severus nodded curtly, taking the parchment from the boy and sitting down in an armchair, the young boy leaving over his shoulder. "It is simple – Professor Flitwick is quite plainly asking is what Charm do you use to lift something up into the air. Surely you covered this in one of your first days of class."

The boy nodded meekly. "I know it's _Wingardium Leviosa_, Professor, but I-I never managed to get anything in the air. A Gryffindor told me that I would be tested on it soon and should figure out how to do the spell before I turned in my homework."

_Those damn Gryffindors, _Severus cursed them silently. But the Gryffindor, whoever it was, did have a point; the boy needed to learn the basic spell before moving on. Severus pulled his wand out from his robes. "Do you have your wand on you, Jack?"

The boy, Jack, shook his head. Severus frowned at him. "Jack, from now on, have your wand with you at all times. Whether you are at school or not. You never know when you may need to use it."

Jack nodded and ran to get his wand. He knew better than to argue or give a lame excuse to Professor Snape. You were to just nod and do what he said, or he would get angry and refuse to help you.

"Hold your wand like this," Severus adjusted to boy's hand on the wand before putting his large hand over Jack's. "Now you wave it this way," he demonstrated, moving Jack's arm with his own, "and very strongly say the spell, as if you really mean it, Jack." He put Jack's arm back in the starting position. "Ready?"

Severus, with his hand clasped around the Jack's, moved Jack's arm the right way as Jack cried out " _Wingardium Leviosa!" _At his words, the book sitting on the coffee table in front of them began floating in the air for a few moments before falling back down.

"Wow!" Jack breathed.

Severus didn't smile. He kept his stern face on – he did that most of the time, whether he was talking to a Gryffindor, Slytherin, unicorn, horse, teacher, or dementor. It was how he was. "Do it again." Severus urged the boy.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!" Jack said again. The books floated for even longer, going ever higher.

Severus got up and patted the boy's shoulder encouragingly. "That should get you there, Jack. Keep practicing."

He headed over to the door of the girl's dormitories and knocked on the one for the seventh-years.

"It's open!" A girl called through the shut door.

"Does anyone in hear need any help with anything? Need to talk?" Severus inquired, sticking his head in the door. The eleven girls inside shook their heads – there were more seventh-years this year than normal.

He nodded. "Well, if any of you do, you're going to have to send me an owl – I am going to be busy over the next couple weeks."

"With what?" Katy inquired.

"'Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness'." Severus said instantaneously, quoting the popular American quote. "And open a damn window, girls – it's suffocating in here." He shut the door before shaking his head. It was only eight o'clock – what were the girls doing getting ready for bed already?

He knocked on the sixth-year girl's door. "Who is it?" A girl called out in a sing-song voice before giggling.

Severus rolled his eyes. "It is your Head of House – may I speak to you for a moment?" He used to ask 'are you decent', but had come to realize that many Slytherins considered Slytherins indecent as a rule, so to avoid them, they would say "no". Very Slytherin indeed – Severus would be lying if he said that he wasn't proud of that, but then again... he was a Slytherin, so lying just came naturally to him.

"Come in." The same girl called.

Only three were in that room, that Severus could see. "Does anyone need any help with anything? Need to talk about anything?"

"No, but I think you might, Professor." One girl quipped. "You look a wreck, if you don't mind me saying so, Professor."

Severus scowled, but didn't reply, just shutting the door. He knew he needed a wreck – he needed to shower, shave, change clothes and get a really good night's sleep, but all that took time. And time wasn't something that he had had a lot of of late.

He quickly finished his rounds, only having to assure a fifth-year girl that she would survive her break-up with a Ravenclaw, and to break-up a fight between two fourth-year boys.

As he headed out of the Common Room, he hesitated. _Go back to the infirmary, Severus – you need to be near Potter before you collapse._ He had started to feel weak in the knees at around the third-year girls, and was positively shaking after the fourth-year boys. He had only been with Potter for an hour before checking on his House – it wasn't enough. He headed back towards the infirmary.

Severus prided himself in the Slytherin house. He knew that Minerva did not spend the time with her house that he did, and he had a feeling that the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs could not boast the same that Slytherins could. Most Head of Houses just relayed important news to their charges, gave them a pep-talk or handed out punishments. But Severus wanted to be the Head of House he had wanted when he was a student. Even though he made a point to never get close with his students (they would wind up leaving after seven years, and then he would just wind up getting hurt), he made it a point to learn their names, their basic likes and dislikes, and to give them all a bit of attention. He could remember his years at Hogwarts and, shuddering with anger every time he thought about it, if only someone had shown him that they cared. If someone would have patted his shoulder and made sure he understood _Wingardium Leviosa_, or if someone had patted his back when Lily agreed to go out with James Potter. If only someone would have stopped James and Sirius in their cruelty. If only someone would have given Severus the time of day, than maybe Severus wouldn't have gone down the road he did.

Back in the infirmary, he found Potter, fully clothed, sprawled over the entire bed, asleep. With a annoyed groan, Severus picked up the boys limbs and moved them to the proper side. Harry stirred, but just barely. Severus knew it had everything to do with the Dreamless Sleep Potion Harry had evidentially taken.

Severus shrugged. _Why not_? He took what was left of the Potion before lying in bed next to Potter and nearly instantly falling asleep.


	10. This is How a Heart Breaks

**Chapter Ten**

"**This Is How A Heart Breaks"**

* * *

Snape grabbed Harry's arm as Harry entered Potions at three-thirty the next afternoon. "Potter!" He hissed as the other Gryffindor students filed by, looking at Harry and Snape with worried expressions, no doubt wondering _what did Harry do this time?_

"What?" Harry said in a low voice, his body tensing at Snape's touch. Snape had very cold hands.

"Did you tell her yet?" Snape inquired, his dark eyes boring down on Harry.

Harry glanced at Ginny nervously, who was watching them, before turning back to Snape. "Not yet."

Snape pushed Harry forcefully into Snape's office and shut the door behind them, for a bit more privacy. He casted a _Silencio _spell before turning to Harry. "You can't do this." He said.

"Do what?" Harry challenged. He was tired of being bossed around by Snape. Apparently Snape didn't take the whole "equality" thing too seriously.

"Lead her on like this!" Snape growled. "She will _not _have a place in this Bond. And I hate her as much as I do the next Gryffindor, but if you lead her on and drop her like a hat-"

"Like my mother did you?" Harry hadn't meant to say that – he regretted saying it the moment he did. He watched a lightening fast quiver of pain cross Snape's face... had Harry blinked, he would have missed it. _There goes the House Cup, _Harry gave up all hope for it right then.

Snape grabbed Harry's shoulders menacingly. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for talking back to a teacher." He said, his voice hoarse. "And you will be excused from class today."

"E-excused from class?" Harry stammered. He needed to go to class today... he couldn't afford to miss one Potions lesson, as miserable as they were. If he were to ever complete his Auror training- oh wait, that dream was probably going to be taken from him, anyhow.

"You and the girl." Snape grabbed Harry by the back of the robes and rather forcefully pushed him out of the office. "I have had enough, Potter!" He said in a much louder voice, in front of the entire classroom. "You will not return to this class until you have changed your attitude about this matter."

_It's not my attitude that's the problem! _Harry wanted to scream. _It's the lack of time I have to talk to Ginny! I can't exactly break up with her over lunch, can I?_ Truth be told, Harry could have found the time if he had wanted to talk to Ginny about it, but he didn't want to. He still didn't know what to say to her – he was debating on either a curse that would kill the next person he kissed or a rare allergy to freckles.

"And you will also not come back until the fifty points you have lost Gryffindor are restored in _this_ very class." Severus continued, knowing it would be forever and a day before the Gryffindors got fifty points in Potions.

"Fifty points!" Hermione Granger stood up angrily. "I don't know what you think he did, but it can't be worth fifty points!"

"You would find it to be in your best interest to remain quiet, Miss Granger." Snape's voice was crisp. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"You can't..." Ron had accidentally let slip in shock.

"Detention, Mr. Weasley." Snape barked. "With Mr. Filch."

"You can't do that!" Ginny Weasley shouted. "Why is it that you _never_ take points from the Slytherins? Only the Gryffindors? You are a bitter, sad, pathetic-"

Severus' plan had worked. He had provoked Potter's friends enough to get Ginny Weasley to speak. He gave a sneer. "Perhaps you would like to spend your afternoon outside of this classroom, Miss Weasley."

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, then shut it, picked up her bag and stalked out of the classroom, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him out with her.

Once the door slammed shut, Severus turned his attention to his class. "Open a window, Malfoy – now that we've gotten rid of the source of the smell, we need to air the room out."

* * *

Harry had to hand it to Snape – of course Ginny would stand up to him, and when she did, he could kick her out of the classroom. Harry just wished that Gryffindor hadn't lost another ten points in the process. He also felt very sorry for Ron – detention with Filch was possibly the worst punishment given at Hogwarts.

"Can you believe him?" Ginny sputtered angrily. "Sixty points from Gryffindor? That is madness! It's insane! Absolutely, positively, utterly insane!" She gave Harry a curious look. "Why did he take fifty points from you?"

_Quick, think of an excuse. Anything. You stepped on his foot. You stole something from the storeroom. You told him he looked like a hag. _"We need to talk." Harry said heavily, dropping his bag in a corner, taking Ginny's from her and dropping it next to his. "Let's go outside."

He led her outside and together they walked around. They had been walking in silence for twenty minutes before Ginny spoke up. "What is it, Harry?" she asked gently.

_She doesn't expect it, _Harry realized. He figured the silence would give her time to figure it out, but apparently not. "Ginny..?"

"Yes, Harry?" She stopped walking and placed her arm on his, tenderly.

Harry shuddered away automatically, and Ginny, used to him doing that, didn't say anything about it. "I love you." Harry blurted out.

Ginny looked taken aback, her blue eyes wide in surprise. "I... I love you too, Harry." She said.

"You are the most important person in the world to me." Harry let out. "You _are_ my world. People spend lifetimes looking for 'that person' and I found her when I was eleven – I guess that makes me the luckiest person in the whole world."

"Oh, Harry." Ginny said softly, tears forming in her blue eyes.

Harry knew he should get to the point, but couldn't stop; he needed Ginny to know how he felt about her. "I feel like I'm walking on air when I'm with you, Ginny. You've turned my world _upside down_. And if I could, I'd choose to have you for the rest of my life." _Merlin, she's going to think you are proposing! Stop it while you're still ahead! _"But..." Harry didn't know how to say this. Luckily Ginny interrupted.

"Look, Harry - I'm not expecting anything 'big' right now – I mean, we're still in school. We can wait a few years, you know, before-"

"No!" Harry let out in frustration. "It is my dream to marry you, Ginny – it is! I would like nothing more! But I _can't_!"

Ginny stared at him. "You... can't?"

Harry shook his head, numbly. "It wouldn't be fair to you to continue... to continue to date you." As much as he hated Snape, Snape was right – it would be unfair for him to lead Ginny on, and to risk Ginny someday having to have a Bond with both Harry and Snape was... unthinkable.

Ginny jumped back in shock, looking at Harry wildly. "But you just asked me to be your steady girlfriend!"

"And I meant every word of it!" Harry said, quickly. "But... you know when I fainted?" _You have to tell her, Harry – you have to. She will find out sooner or later, and it would be better for her to find out from you than it would be for her to find out from anyone else._

"Erm... you mean on Monday?"

Harry gave an extremely weak smile. He had fainted a lot since he knew Ginny. "Yes, Monday night." He took a deep breath. "I... I don't know how, but somehow, I got a drop of Neville's Potion in my mouth."

"Neville's... Potion?" A cloud of confusion crossed Ginny's face.

"Neville made a Potion..." Harry tried to jog Ginny's memory. "Monday afternoon. We were all surprised. Snape told no one to touch it."

Ginny's eyes widened. "You touched it?" She asked in shock. "After he told you not to?"

"No!" Harry didn't know how many times he would have to argue that argument over the next however-many years. "I don't know _how_ I got it, but... but I did." He shrugged. "Dumbledore thinks a drop of it might have splashed on my finger or something, and maybe I licked it off without thinking... or something." He paused. It was now or never. "Can you keep a secret, Ginny?"

Ginny nodded, so Harry bravely continued. "A Contineo Potion is a binding Potion, sort of. If two people drink it, it kind of physically gives bodies the need to... to be near the other person. You know, just touching, or talking, or eye contact or something." He hoped that was all there was to it, anyhow. "It isn't too common at all, because dragon hide flakes are extremely hard to get and no one in their right mind would intentionally make the stuff... but I somehow swallowed some."

Ginny, instead of understanding, looked more confused. "Well... so? No one else..." A look of comprehension crossed her face as she realized that Snape had, of course, put some in his mouth in Potions that day. "Oh, Harry." She said softly, her eyes filling with tears.

Harry was starting to get choked up as well. "They don't know any counter-Potions or anything, so we're doing everything we can to survive, you know?" Tears were streaming down his face and he didn't bother to stop them. "The... the people who lived the longest on the Potion got married as soon as they found out... the Bond has never really been tested against things like... it's not fair! Not to me or you! I can't do this to you!" he shook his head as he sobbed. "I can't do this, Ginny! I can't! I can't date you and live with him and risk bringing you into this..." he spoke the words. They became real for the first time, sinking his stomach to his knees. Harry gasped. "Oh Merlin, no. I can't do it! I can't!" He fell to his knees and just sobbed. Everyone was in class – no one would see or hear him cry, and quite frankly, Harry didn't care if they did. He had held it in long enough.

"Ssh." Ginny knelt down and enveloped him in a hug. "Ssh... it's okay. We'll figure something out."

"What is there to figure out?" Harry grasped her arm as he leaned on her shoulder and cried. "We're over, my life is ruined, end of discussion."

"Your life is not ruined, Harry." Ginny said. "I mean... I'm sure Snape isn't as bad as we think he is." Her voice said otherwise; she didn't believe a word of it, which only made Harry cry harder.

"Harry, calm down!" Ginny said frantically, pulling out her handkerchief and wiping Harry's face. "Harry, honey, listen – you need to calm down. You're going to make yourself sick." She had learned quite a bit from her mother over the years, and automatically started to mother Harry.

Harry's breathing immediately slowed as he gave a few hiccuping sobs. "I... I can't..." he began to cry again. He never cried. Hardly ever. But this was just so... huge. He was giving up his life, in a sense, because of a Potion that he did _not_ take. The Bond hadn't been tested, as far as they knew, _against_ marriage, sex, and the like. Harry couldn't force Ginny into a life with Snape – it would just be awful, not to mention much harder, to accommodate three people into one schedule.

"Look, you can defeat a Dark Lord more times than I can even count now, and you can't get through this?" She shook her head. "It makes no _sense_, Harry."

"But that was easy!" Harry exclaimed, picking up his head from Ginny's shoulder and waving his hand around wildly. "I didn't do anything most of the time! My Mum died for me, I climbed through some tunnels, produced a Patronus, had a wand with a twin core, was a Horcrux... I never did _anything_! Things just worked out! This..." he shuddered, holding back the sob that was forming in his throat. "This is different."

Ginny didn't know what to say to that. She had always known that Harry wasn't just overly modest about what he had done, but that he just didn't see the big deal. He didn't understand what kind of bravery it took to climb through the tunnels he did to get the Philosopher's Stone, and to get to the Chamber of Secrets. He didn't understand what it meant to produce a Patronus at thirteen – he didn't realize that he was a very special and powerful Wizard, that he was a very brave and strong person that was capable of _anything_.

"So there's no way I'm changing your mind?" She asked. "I am willing to risk it, Harry. You know... sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do, and-"

Harry shook his head. "It's not happening, Ginny." He croaked. "Don't you see? I have to spend as much time with Snape as I do away! That means no eating by myself, sleeping by myself..." he shuddered as he remembered the past two nights, sleeping against the man.

It began to sink in. _We're over, _Ginny realized. _All because of a Potion. Even if it doesn't affect my body like it does his... which it could if we ever... he doesn't want me to be around Snape. He doesn't want to bring that on me. Oh, Merlin! _Ginny, normally hard-headed, stubborn, and a 'when-there's-a-will' kind of girl, gave up. It was a rather hopeless situation.

"Harry?" She said quietly. "I'm sad." That was all she needed to say – she knew Harry would understand the rest. She was sad for him, sad for herself, sad for them.

Harry grasped her hand, a weak smile on his face, his green eyes rimmed red behind his tear-spotted glasses. They sat in silence, content in each other's own quiet company, as they thought and mulled over their situation.

They didn't realize how long they had sat there until the bell rang. Classes were out for the day. It was five o'clock. "I have to be in Dumbledore's office at six-thirty." Harry told her. "To... to do stuff." He didn't know what – all he knew was that Professor McGonagall had pulled him aside in Transfiguration and told him.

"Do you need me to be there?" Ginny asked, absent-mindedly reaching up and pushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. Black and wavy, his hair grew fast and needed cut regularly. She had grown into the habit of pushing it aside so she could look into his beautiful green eyes which often betrayed his thoughts.

Harry shook his head. He couldn't think of anything worse than his girlfriend, no, _ex_-girlfriend having a front-row seat at whatever Dumbledore was planning. "I'll be fine, thanks." He said softly. "I...I have to go up to the infirmary."

"Why?" Ginny asked, concern flooding her face.

"If Snape and I are separated long enough, we start to feel sick." Harry explain hurriedly. "He was gone until I don't know when last night and I'm already starting to feel a little weak, so-"

"Maybe it's from crying so hard?" Ginny suggested. She wasn't ready to let Harry go. No, not now; now when they still had an hour and a half left.

Harry shook his head. He knew how to tell the two weak feelings apart well enough. "I have to go, Ginny." He said softly.

Ginny stepped forward and gave him a big hug. Somehow, his lips found hers. The lightening struck through him, like it always did, and he had to force himself to push away. "I love you, Ginny." He said, blinking to block the tears. It felt as if he were saying "goodbye" to her forever.

"You too, Harry." She said softly as he hurried away. She knelt down on the ground and hugged her knees, burying her deep sob in her arms.


	11. Binds and Breaks

**Chapter Eleven**

"**Binds and Breaks"**

* * *

"What's going on with you?" Ron asked an hour later in the Great Hall. Harry and Snape had shown up for supper, and had agreed to leave halfway through the meal to get to Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore was planning something. Snape claimed to have no clue what, but his eyes never betrayed anything, so that didn't mean much.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry didn't even think about the lie he told. He felt too numb and tired from the scene with Ginny, too fearful of his fate, too confused from everything that had been going on lately.

"Come on, mate." Ron rolled his eyes. "You've been so quiet, you have disappeared every chance you get, and you haven't eaten since I don't know when – what gives?"

Harry stopped stirring around his food, without eating it. He had developed a bad habit of doing that. "I just don't feel good." He admitted. The Bond was making his life miserable, indirectly. He wasn't feeling weak, nauseated, sweaty, dizzy, or anything else – but just not good. Depressed.

"You know you can tell us anything, Harry." Hermione spoke up, Ron echoing with a "yeah".

Harry just shook his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Snape stiffly getting up and stalking out of the Great Hall. "I've gotta go." He said quietly, getting up and leaving before his best friends could interrogate him further.

_You should have talked to Hermione about it! _He scolded himself. _She would have found some way around it... how am I going to get out of this alive? I don't know... I just don't know what to do... _He didn't want this at all, and neither did Snape. It didn't make sense to just let them die when they could do something to prevent it, but it also didn't make sense to ruin their lives over it. And as far as Harry was concerned, being close enough to touch and smell Snape for the rest of his life was ruination.

Harry paused at the Headmaster's office – Snape had evidentially already went in, because he had left the door ajar for Harry. Too overcome with complicated emotions, Harry didn't bother to feel grateful for that as he went inside.

* * *

Severus shifted from one foot to the other. He didn't know what to think of this all, really. What was he supposed to think? He had lived for thirty-nine years to have to spend the rest of with James Potter's child – that was enough to make anyone cringe.

Severus looked at Dumbledore. "Are you sure there is no other way to go around this?" He asked it, keeping a casual tone, but feeling far from casual.

The man preparing the certificates looked up at Severus. "If you are not sure about adoption, sir, than might I suggest that you and the young man hold off until-"

"Thank you, Fredrick." Dumbledore interrupted, giving the man a kind smile before turning to Severus. "You know it's necessary, Severus."

_Do not meet his eyes, Severus... _"But is this really necessary, Headmaster? Could we not try-"

"Right here, Severus." Dumbledore shoved a book under Severus' nose.

_It is suggested that the Bondees engage in as much physical contact as possible, as well as sexual actions. They are both proven to strengthen the Bond._

Severus scoffed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you are getting some form of depraved pleasure out of this, Albus."

Dumbledore widened his eyes and motioned to himself. "Me?" He said, a twinkle in his eye. At noticing Severus' grave and fidgety mood, he place his hand lightly on Severus' shoulder. "I admire your courage, Severus. It is not any man that could go on with this. And I thank you, for doing this." He wrapped his arms around Severus in an embrace.

"Harry!" Dumbledore said suddenly, breaking away from Severus and going over to Harry to prepare him for what he would have to do.

_What a great time for him to show up, _Severus was angry. He had foolishly let his guard down and let Dumbledore hug him. Sure enough, as soon as he had, Potter walked into the room. _It won't happen again, _he thought, determinedly.

"All right, so the adopter and adoptee are here?" The man who had brought the legal forms was smiling too widely, Severus decided. _He must witness a lot of happy binding, _Severus realized. Apparently the man, Frederick, was not aware of the unusual circumstances. _'Adopter'? If he says that again, I am going to give him one hell of a hex right in the-_

"Adoption?" Harry's eyes widened in alarm as he began backing away. "Uh, no, I don't think so. Er, no thanks." Dumbledore grabbed the back of his robes before he could bolt.

"Harry," Dumbledore said gently, but firmly. "There are many reasons for us doing this, including that it can only help the Bond for the two of you to be legally closer, but I will also not have a student, regardless of age, living in a teacher's chambers."

Harry found it hard to swallow. _But... no! _"But my parents..." Harry said, ignoring Snape's scoff. "I like to... I feel like..." _What am I supposed to say? That even though they're dead, I like that I'm still their kid? That no one ever adopted me, that I will always be a Potter?_

Dumbledore looked over Harry as if he were x-raying him. _Damn, he probably _is! Harry looked away from him. "Harry, this is nothing more than a legal proceeding. You may keep your name, and speak of your parents as your own. As a matter of fact, I expect you to call Severus 'professor' in front of everyone, regardless of what you choose to call him in private."

"Which will be 'Professor'." Snape added in a snarly voice.

"Severus," Dumbledore gently touched Severus' arm, who jerked away at the touch. "You're to sign your name here."

Severus looked down in distaste at the piece of parchment lying on Dumbledore's desk. _If you do this, the better chance Potter will have of surviving, _he reminded himself. _Do it for Lily. For Lily._Before he could change his mind, Severus picked up the fine quill Frederick had sat out, dipped it in the inkwell and wrote his name, _Severus Tobias Snape_.

Severus then tried to sit the quill down, but Dumbledore put down another form. "And here." He pointed to the line to scrawl the signature on.

_Why so many forms? _Severus wondered, having never adopted. _Why adoption at all? What strange custom, really. Why can't people just raise children? What does making it "legal" have to do with anything? What can't people do what they want to do? Getting the Ministry involved... seems so extreme for people wanting (or not) to claim a child._

He signed _Severus Tobias Snape_ four times total before he was allowed to step back. It was Harry's turn to sign the forms.

"Now, don't be nervous." Dumbledore whispered into the shaking boy's ear. Harry hid it well – Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to tell the boy was nervous at all had he not had his hand on his shoulder and felt him shaking. "It is just signing your name, Harry. It's very simple."

Harry nodded, wishing that that was why he was nervous. He wasn't worried about signing the parchment – he was worried about the effect signing the parchment would have on the rest of his life.

He took a deep breath and glanced at Snape, who was standing behind Harry with his arms crossed, staring at him. Harry quickly turned around and scrawled his name out, _Harry James Potter_.

It didn't get easier the next time. Or the next. By the time Harry got to the fourth form, his hand was shaking, and he was getting all ink blots all over the parchment, something he hadn't done since the beginning of his first year. It made him all the more nervous to know that Snape was watching his every move – he didn't know how anyone would be able to do anything around him.

After Harry signed _Harry James Potter _for the last time, he looked up at Dumbledore. _Is this it? Am I done? Can I go now? _He normally loved to look around Dumbledore's office, but that was the last thing he wanted right then. He wanted someone to put a really good Memory Charm on him so that he could forget he was ever Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived-And-Who-Was-In-Love-With-Ginny-Weasley. Maybe then the rest of his life would be bearable.

Frederick looked as if he had won the entire contents of Gringotts. "Step back a step, Harry." Frederick instructed.

Harry did so and found himself standing right next to Snape, who still towered over him, making Harry feel really infantile and a little bit awkward. _This whole thing is awkward, _he realized.

"Now, hold hands." Fredrick said, brandishing his wand.

Immediately, both Severus and Harry jumped and took a step sideways away from each other, sizing each other up with distaste. Dumbledore just chuckled. "All right, men – it's just hands."

His nostrils flaring, Severus took Potter's hand. The boy had sweaty hands. _Sweaty hands! _Severus was disgusted. _That is simply disgusting._

They saw a flash of pink light. Severus used his left hand, the hand not holding Potter's, to shield his eyes from the blinding light evidentially coming out of Frederick's wand. And just as abruptly as it had come, it went away.

Harry blinked a couple times, seeing green and red dots floating around Dumbledore's office. "I-Is that it?" He asked tentatively.

"Yes!" Fredrick said excitedly. The man was practically jumping up and down, Harry noted. He was holding a piece of parchment, which was still smoking.

Snape quickly dropped Harry's hand and took the parchment from Frederick, looked it over quickly, and sneered. "Well, this will look great on the mantle." He commented sarcastically, looking down at Harry. He then rolled it up and stuck it in his robes. He nodded curtly to Frederick and Dumbledore, grabbed Harry by the arm of Harry's robes, and began to pull Harry out of the office.

"Where are we going?" Harry had to walk extra fast to keep up with Snape's large strides; it didn't help that Snape was walking very quickly.

"Shut up, Potter." Severus snarled. _It's done, Severus – nothing more to worry about, _the voice inside his head chirped. "Go up to your dormitory, get your trunk, and meet me down at the dungeons, quickly."

"That's a long way to lug a trunk without help," Harry noted. "C-Can you help me?" _Where are we going, _Harry wondered.

_The more time you spend with him tonight, the less you do tomorrow afternoon, _he reminded himself. Though he didn't want to think about what the other students would think if they saw their Potions Master up in the Gryffindor Common Room, the other students were still in the Great Hall. If they hurried...

"Let us hurry." Severus said gruffly, hurrying along with Harry towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Not for the first time in his twenty-six years at the school (as a student and as staff), he wished he could just apparate from one location to another. It would make things so much easier.

"If you get too tired-" Harry offered as they ran towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. He just going to say that he could always _Accio_ his broomstick, but he was interrupted by a snarling Snape.

"I think I am perfectly fit to run." Snape snarled. He picked up his pace a little as they ran up the stairs, as if to prove it.

"Snape! Stop!" Harry said suddenly.

Snape glared at Harry. "_Professor_ Snape." But he stopped. "Just because we-"

"That step is a trick step." Harry explained, pointing to a step that looked real, but wasn't. "You don't want to step on it, or you'll-"

"I am familiar with what trick steps are, Potter." Snape said testily. But he did step over the step as they continued their hurried journey to the Gryffindor Common Room.

They finally got to the portrait of the Fat lady. "Password?" She inquired, looking suspiciously at Snape.

"_Fidel Leo_." Harry said, breathlessly, ignoring Snape's snort at the password.

Resuming their run, they ran straight through the Common Room and into Harry's room. Harry pulled his truck out and opened it. "Why are we in such a hurry?"

"Throw your stuff in – I'll tell you later." Severus said, aggravatingly. He had just realized something; _Reducio_. He could have just told Potter to use it, and continued to the Common Room. But with his mind on so many other things, it had just slipped that there were obviously better ways to carry something bulky and heavy.

The second Potter had closed the truck lid, Severus asked quickly "is that everything?" At Harry's nod, Severus said "_Reducio!_" and shrunk the trunk to the size of a small chocolate bar. He put it into his robe pocket. "Twenty-five points from Gryffindor for not knowing to do that spell. Honestly, a seventh year, and you did not know that?" He scoffed.

Harry felt his face flush with both anger and embarrassment. "You could have reminded me before we ran all the way up here!"

"I could have," Severus said smoothly, "but that would have taken all the fun out of seeing if you would remember, seeing that you didn't, and taking away the points."

"Well, can I _have_ my trunk?" Harry asked as they began the trek down the stairs. "I-I have some valuable stuff in there."

"I'm sure." Snape said with a sneer. "I am sure that the _famous_ Harry Potter has a lot of valuables that us lesser Wizards-"

"It's not like that!" Harry said, with his teeth gritted. "Just stuff with... sentimental value, is all." He jumped the trick step and kept running, having to run almost twice as fast to keep up with his Potions Master. But there was no way that the man was getting ahead of Harry, no way. "And I don't have much of monetary value, for your information. So you can stop your pathetic 'the _famous_ Harry Potter' stuff."

Just as they reached the main floor and were slowing down, the doors of the Great Hall busted open, and students flooded out.

_Great, _Severus thought as students absolutely surrounded them as they very untidily walked past. There was a whole lot of chattering, stepping on feet, and some curious looks at Severus, who was very out of place in the swarm of students.

"Harry!" Ron thundered. His face was as red as his hair. "What the _hell_ did you do?"

"What?" Harry called over the crowd. "I didn't do anything!" _Please don't let him know – I don't want him to know about me and Snape yet..._

"Ginny!" Ron said. As the crowd began to disappear as students began to clear out to their dorms, the library, and other places, Ron gave Harry a hard look. "Hermione and I wondered where you disappeared to, but couldn't find you! We went up to the Common Room to look and we found Ginny crying! She says you broke up with her!" A look of hatred crossed Ron's face. "How could you? My little sister? She _loved_ you, Harry! You knew that! And I _thought_ you liked her – that's the only reason I didn't attack you when you first asked her out! What gives? You think you can just drop her like a hat for whatever reason you want? Huh?" Ron seemed to notice Snape for the first time and an even more disgusted look crossed his freckled face. "What's _he_ doing here?"

Harry swallowed hard. "I-I-I..."

"Come on, Potter." Snape said shortly, grabbing Harry by the forearm and dragging him down towards the dungeons.

Harry turned and looked backwards at Ron. Ron's eyes were dark, cold, and hard as they stared at Harry. It was all Harry could do to keep the sob from forming in his throat from getting out.


	12. Peace and Quiet

**Chapter Twelve**

"**Peace and Quiet"**

* * *

Snape rounded the stairs down to the dungeons quickly, pulling Harry with him. Harry lost track of how much time they spent spiraling down one staircase, going down a corridor, and down another staircase. He tried to pay attention, so he would be able to find his way out again, but it was next to impossible.

Severus, however, knew exactly where he was going. He had lived in the same chambers since two years afters he left Hogwarts. It had once seemed like a long walk, but he had walked it so many times, he didn't even notice it anymore. And he still fully appreciated it's location – relatively close to the Potions classroom, his office, and the Slytherin Common Room, far enough from everything so that no student followed him. He was truly alone in his chambers, and he liked that. Well, he was alone... until now.

_Curse Longbottom! Curse that Potion! Curse Potter! _Severus silently cursed anything and everything remotely responsible for the newly-developed Bond. He hated the Bond. He couldn't find the words for how much he hated it. He hated that Wizards could create Potions for the oddest things that nobody wanted, and yet couldn't create Potions that could do useful things, such as bring people back to life, or have someone regrow a limb or other missing body part.

_Where are we going? _Harry wondered, not being able to keep the fear hidden deep inside of him. He hated the dungeons – they were cold, slimy, smelly, and reminded him of Potions and Slytherins. The corridor the Potions classroom was on was relatively slime-free, as was the Slytherin Common Room, but where Harry was with Snape was the definition of "creepy". It was much colder, slimier, and smellier than anywhere Harry had ever been at Hogwarts, except for maybe the Chamber of Secrets.

Suddenly Snape stopped and pointed his wand at a door. He didn't say anything, just pointed his wand. Harry looked at the Potions Master's face; his expression, while carefully guarded as usual, was one of concentration. Snape wasn't moving his mouth or his eyes – he just stared at the door, which consequently, swung open.

Harry gaped at Snape in awe. "How did you do that?"

Snape stuck his wand back into his robes. "If I don't say my password out loud, there is no need to ever change it, is there?" He said as if Harry were some stupid first-year. "At Hogwarts, the very walls have ears."

It was true. Harry tucked that bit of information in the back of his brain, to practice opening the portrait of the fat lady without words. It could come in very useful... wait.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, looking around the room Snape had taken him in. It looked like a small house, almost. There was a small lit fireplace and two overstuffed arm chairs sitting by the fire. The stone walls were lined with books. To the right side of the room was a small dust-covered table, and what seemed like a small open kitchen, the counters also covered with a thick layer of dust.

Snape gave him a scowl. "Where do you think, Potter? My private chambers – where you will be living for now on." He added that last piece of information as if it pained him very much to say it. But Harry didn't think it could pain Snape as much as it pained him.

"Me? Living... here?" He asked, looking wildly around the room. The left side of the room looked well lived-in – the carpet that occupied that side was clean and dust-free, both overstuffed chairs looking like they had been used quite a bit. Upon closer examination, most of the books weren't dusty, meaning they had been used.

But the other side, Harry realized as he walked over to it, wasn't used at all. The scarlet carpet (scarlet? Who would have guessed that Snape would have _scarlet_ carpet, of all colors?) ended as the sitting area gave away. The stone floor wasn't the cleanest, and it looked as if the kitchen had not been used in a long time. There were two rooms leading off of the small dining area, but as their doors were closed, Harry didn't know where they led.

"Yes, Potter." Snape sniffed. "I realize it might not live up to the accommodations that you're used to, however-"

"It's fine." Harry said shortly, standing awkwardly behind an armchair.

Severus heard Potter, but felt no need to respond. What was he supposed to say 'Good'? 'I'm glad'? How about 'make yourself at home'? All of those things were perfectly needless to say. Severus opened the door to his bedroom and went in, perfectly aware that Potter was following him.

_Where is that? _He wondered, looking through the piles of parchment on his bedside table. _I swear to Merlin I put it right here..._

"What are you looking for?" Potter asked in a quiet voice.

Severus sighed, rolling his eyes. "A letter, Potter – if you must know."

"Whose it from?"

"It doesn't concern you, Potter." Severus said in his most bored tone.

"Dumbledore says a lot of things don't concern me, and it does."

"Let me inform you, Potter, that the world does not revolve around you, and therefore, you will quit prying into my private business. I assure you that if anything that comes up that does concern you, you will be told." Severus found the letter and went into the sitting area, sitting himself down in his favorite chair to re-read the letter and make a decision on what to do about its contents.

Harry sat down awkwardly at the chair across from Snape. He began nervously twiddling his thumbs. _What am I supposed to say, _he wondered. He felt weird not saying anything and just sitting there.

"Quidditch." He said suddenly, realizing something.

Snape lowered the letter, his eyes meeting Harry's. "Quidditch?" He asked. Severus had never been good at Quidditch – he could fly well, of course, but did not have the natural coordination for the sport.

"Yeah – we have a match on Saturday. Against Ravenclaw." Harry squirmed in the chair. It was uncomfortable. "I can play, right? I mean, it won't hurt to have a couple hour game, will it?"

"Physical exertion may not be the most ideal thing to do," Severus mused. Dumbledore had warned him that any amount of exertion might lessen the charge that he and Harry were running off of, and to not do any activity that might strain their brains, their bodies, or their magic. They had done a lot of running that night, but since they would be spending hours together that night, it wouldn't effect them too much, probably. But the amount of flying and excitement that Quidditch would bring in the beginning of the day would likely mean that he would have to spend more time with Potter afterwards to avoid any sort of breakdown, like they had had on Monday.

"Oh please, Snape." Harry rolled his eyes. "We both know that you're just saying that so that Gryffindor will lose it's Seeker and Slytherin might have a chance to win the final Quidditch match this year."

Severus' eyes narrowed. "I believe you meant to address me as _Professor_ Snape, Potter. And how dare you accuse me of trying to use this Bond to sabotage Quidditch!"

"Well, why else would you try to discourage me from playing?" Harry felt desperate, regretting bringing this up. He _needed_ Quidditch. As of right then, that was the only thing he could count on.

"We will have to avoid all extra exertion possible. Including Apparating, disapparting, running, powerful magic that needs a lot of concentration, and yes – Quidditch." Severus drawled out. "Yes, Potter – on Saturday you can try to play Quidditch, but if two hours go by and the Snitch is not caught, you will either have to find a replacement or forfeit."

"Only two hours to catch the Snitch?" Harry didn't know if that was fair – sometimes it took much longer to find and catch the golden Snitch.

"And after that time, you will have to put in a new Seeker for an hour. You will meet me in the lockers." Snape's eyes met Harry's. "Consider yourself lucky, Potter – I might not choose to allow this every match."

_Hook-nosed bastard. _"But we don't _have_ a _spare_ Seeker!" Harry exclaimed.

"You should have thought of that before." Snape said, in that monotone voice he always used, which annoyed Harry to no end.

"That's not fair!" Harry jumped up in rage. "You can't control me like this! I'm not stopping you from doing... whatever it is you like to do."

"And how would you know that, if you don't know what I do?" Snape inquired. "I'd encourage you to mind your own business, Potter."

"What about Quidditch practice?" Harry asked, beginning to pace. "I scheduled one for tomorrow evening – we have got to practice tomorrow!"

"And you shall." Severus said, more than annoyed with Potter. If every night was going to be an argument about Quidditch, he would just retire earlier and get extra sleep. "What time is it at?"

"Seven-thirty." Harry said.

Severus nodded. "Go ahead, but let me warn you – if you start to feel weak, come back here. And I will know – I will be feeling as weak as you. After the game on Saturday, we have to spend the rest of the day together, because I am refereeing Slytherins versus Hufflepuff on Sunday, and I cannot be replaced in the middle of the match – I _am_ the replacement."

"Fine." Harry said, grudgingly, heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Snape said sharply.

"To find us a new Seeker." Harry snapped. "I saw a little second-year flying around on her broomstick last week; I will have to go find out if she'll play for us." He paused at the door. "We are allowed to have a spare Seeker, right?"

Severus nodded. "I imagine so. I am the Head of Slytherin and have no problem with it – I should doubt the other Heads with have problems with it if they realize our... unique situation. It is not as if we are having two Seekers play at once."

"Psh, with Malfoy as your Seeker, we barely need one as it is." Harry scoffed. "Oh, wait... people are going to wonder why we need a spare Seeker." Harry realized out loud.

"Tell them there is a personal reason for it, and that it has been approved." Snape said, his eyes narrowing at the comment towards the Slytherin Seeker. "You have forty-five minutes, then come back."

Harry nodded. "Um... how do I get back up to the Great Hall?"

"Didn't bother to pay attention on the way down, did we Potter?" Snape sneered, getting up and getting a fresh piece of parchment and a quill He drew a quick map up to the Great Hall from the dungeons for Harry, made sure Harry knew the password, and Harry left.

Severus breathed an automatic sigh of relief when the boy left. As much as he needed to be in his presence, he found that whenever he was, he was tense and frustrated. He could only be at peace when he was by himself. He returned to reading the letter he held.

_Dear Mr. Snape,_

_We regret to inform you that your house, located on Spinner's End, has been destroyed by The Ministry of Magic, due to non-removable traces of Dark Magic. The property, however, is now free from the Dark Magic. As you have been cleared of all charges against you, you are free to rebuild at any time._

_We are sorry, but thank you for your corporation. Have a good day,_

_Milignus Fledgink, Ministry of Magic_

_Screw them, _Snape said. True enough, he rarely used the house. He didn't appreciate the memories of the house, of having an abusive father and a suicidal mother, so only lived there when he had nowhere else to go. Hogwarts, as a rule, was closed in the summer, so usually Severus just went to Spinner's End for July and August, before returning to Hogwarts for the majority of the year. But now, Severus had to take the Potter boy with him, and he had nowhere to go. He couldn't ask Albus or Minerva to house them – if there was one thing Severus could not stand, it was charity. But what other options did they have? As a professor, he did not make much money, especially with the food, room, and board he had. It was not as if he could rebuild, like the letter suggested. That would take Galleons – hundreds of Galleons – that Severus just didn't have.

_Perhaps I could get a loan..._ he mused, knowing already that Gringotts would never entrust a former Death Eater with a single knut.. And he and Harry could only stay at an inn for so long, before what little Severus had managed to save ran out. And while Albus might want to allow Severus and Harry to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, it was unlikely that the situation would be very feasible. After all, even though Albus was Headmaster, he couldn't make all of the decisions, and there would certainly be enough Governors on the Board to shoot the idea down.

Severus didn't like feeling needy or like someone whom someone would sympathize. He had often been tempted to feel sorry for himself over the past few days, and had, but was quitting. He had been doing a horrible job of doing what he had been doing successfully for years – guarding his emotions. Whenever he did that, there was never any cause for someone to feel pity or anything of the sort – he was regarded as cold and sinister by students and adults alike, and much-preferred it that way. It kept him distant from everyone. If you weren't close to them, then you felt nothing when something bad happened to them.

He sat the letter on the small table standing beside his chair, stood up and stretched. Perhaps he would go over to the Slytherin Common Room, just to check up on his House.

* * *

"Yes, a Seeker." Harry patiently told the second-year, Grace Creel. "Gryffindor needs a spare Seeker – you wouldn't play every game, of course, but during the long ones, you see, when I need to take a break." He paused, searching for the words to say. "I am not well, right now, and it would be a shame to lose the Quidditch Cup this year because I can't fly for more than an hour or two."

"But... me?" She squeaked.

Harry nodded, glad that he had stumbled upon the tiny child in the corridors near the Gryffindor Common Room. He wasn't in the mood to run into Ginny, or Ron. "I've seen you on your broomstick – you're so fast! And you have a sharp eye for things – remember the other morning, at breakfast, when an owl dropped that shrunken package accidentally? You reached out and caught it like a professional Seeker!" He honestly meant the things he said. The child had extreme potential as a Seeker.

"But... but isn't that against the rules of Quidditch?" the Muggle-Born was sounded unsure, but Harry knew that any student at Hogwarts understood Quidditch well. It was impossible not to.

"We have been given permission." Harry explained. "Because of our special circumstances. So basically, you will play at practices with us, and just watch the game until I get too tired to continue."

"But... but that makes it possible for us to cheat, right?" She seemed nervous. "I don't want to cheat."

Harry, not for the first time, felt a surge of pride for the House he belonged to. "Well, it would make it easier to cheat, but we're not going to. We can only swap out if Professor Snape gives us permission to."

"Professor _Snape_?" The girl gaped. "But he hates Gryffindor! He'll never let us-"

Harry held up his hand to stop her. "Yes, he will. He will know when I'm too tired to play, and will let you play. Don't worry – we've got it all organized. Our only question is, is that do you want to play?" As Quidditch Captain, he chose the players.

The girl nodded without hesitation. "Definitely."

He smiled and shook her hand. "Next practice is tomorrow at seven-thirty, at the Quidditch field."

He exchanged a bit more small talk with the girl, getting to know her (her twin brother was jealous that he wasn't a Wizard, she loved pumpkin juice milkshakes, and had wanted to play football (soccer) professionally before becoming a Wizard), before noting that his forty-five minute time was nearly up.

"Well, see you on the field, Grace." He smiled at her and waved. For the first time in three days, the knot in his stomach loosened slightly. At least he was guaranteed a fair season of Quidditch – at least his _entire_ world hadn't been turned upside-down.


	13. The First Night

**Chapter Thirteen  
"The First Night"**

* * *

"It's eight o'clock – do you know where _your_ Potions Master is?" Harry said in a taunting voice as Snape entered the chamber. He had gotten back fifteen minutes before, right as his forty-five minutes ended, and had discovered that Snape had also left. He could have had fifteen extra minutes to do whatever he wanted, and instead spent them in Snape's chambers, bored to tears.

"What?" Severus asked, hanging his cloak in the proper place, on a hook behind the door.

"Nothing." Harry said quickly. Apparently Snape didn't know all the jokes running behind his back. "Where we you? You said 'forty-five minutes'. I can back in forty-five, and you weren't here!" He stamped his foot in frustration. "If you planned on wandering off, you could have _told_ me! I could have spent another fifteen more minutes out!"

Severus had a hard time not chuckling at the boy. _What a mother-hen, _he thought. "Excuse me if I don't have to answer to you, Potter." He sneered.

"Yet you make me answer to you." Harry reminded him.

"Well, you're a child, and an irrational one at that." Severus snapped. "Perhaps if you have proven yourself less so, I might not be so strict."

"I'm _not_ a child!" Harry argued. "I'm eighteen!"

"_And_ a student!" Severus snapped back. "And unless you pass your N.E.W.T'.s this year, you're going to be a student for a long time."

Harry shrugged. "Well, at least I can always go back to school, if I manage to do horribly – it is not as if I will be taking up any room or eating any food I won't be anyway. And wouldn't that just make you happy, having me in your Potions class yet _again_?"

Severus was tempted to tell Potter that Dumbledore would never allow him to attend classes for another year if he did horribly on the N.E.W.T'.s, but didn't. After all, Dumbledore had an annoying habit of letting Potter do whatever he pleased.

"I should hope that you improve in Potions after being in my presence long enough," Severus said, striding over to the kitchen and opening various cabinets, pulling out vials filled with different Potions.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, curious.

"How much of the Contineo Potion did you take, Potter?" Severus ignored the boy's question, his mind reeling with possible ideas.

"When will you stop asking me this?" Harry stamped his foot in anger. "I didn't take it!"

"I am sure." Severus said, snidely. "James never could tell a proper lie. Who knew that such things could be inherited?"

"Most people could consider not telling lies a good quality," Harry's face flushed with anger at the negative mention of his father. Sure, James hadn't been perfect, but he was still Harry's father, which was good enough for Harry.

"Oh, I never said he didn't tell lies. I just said that he did a frightful job of it." Severus took extra care with the vial of bubbly yellow-green liquid. If anything happened to that particular Potion, all hope was lost.

"I thought you said that you threw out Neville's Potion?" Harry exclaimed, recognizing the Contineo Potion the instant he saw it.

Severus' eyes met with Harry's. "I lied." He said, flatly. He than began to busy himself with placing the vials into a tray made for holding the vials. Severus was planning on taking them up to his office to work on brewing perhaps a Potion to counter the effects of the Contineo Potion. True, it had never been done before, but with only a handful of cases known, there hadn't been anyone to test it on. Perhaps Severus could create a counter-Potion.

"Where are you going with those?" Harry asked.

"_We're_ going to my office. If I remember correctly, you have detention."

"For touching a Potion that I didn't touch!" Harry exclaimed. "When are you going to believe me?"

"When you take some Veritaserum and still continue to claim you didn't take the Potion." Severus said, almost absent-mindedly. He needed to take as many Potions with him as he might need. Sometimes mixing Potions with Potions gave an extremely desirable result.

"Fine!" Harry exclaimed, holding his hands up in a 'surrender' pose. "Give me the Veritaserum! Right now – I swear, I didn't take the Potion!"

Severus stared at the boy. Surely the boy was mad – of course he took the Potion. How else could the Bond be explained? But then, why would he ask for the Veritaserum unless he thought that Severus wouldn't give it to him?

"Fine." Severus sneered, taking a vial of Veritaserum from his cabinet. He preferred to keep his Potions in his chambers than in his office, classroom, or storeroom. The last thing he needed was for some students to not only sneak ingredients, but the actual Potions! "Open up, Potter."

Harry hesitated. He hadn't thought Snape would actually give him the Potion. _But I didn't touch it, so what have I got to lose? _Taking a deep breath, he took the vial from Snape and swallowed a mouthful of the foul-tasting liquid.

Severus stared intently at Harry as Harry's green eyes glazed over. "Potter?" He said. "Have you ever stolen anything from my storeroom?"

"Yeah." _I knew it._

"How many times?"

Harry paused. "A lot."

"Did you spread that rumor about me being a vampire?"

"No." Severus couldn't believe it.

"Who did?" Severus tried.

"Fred Weasley." _I should have guessed it._ The ghost of Fred Weasley was more troublesome than Fred had been when he was alive.

"Did you steal the Contineo Potion?"

"No." Severus looked at Potter carefully. He was telling the truth.

"Did you replace the Cornflick Seeds with dragon hide flakes?"

"No."

"Do you know who did?"

"No."

"Did you drink the Contineo Potion?"

"No."

Severus sighed. He wasn't sure of what else to ask the boy. He had already gotten the answers he needed to know, and quite frankly felt too tired to think of any more questions he'd like to ask. Ever since taking the Contineo Potion, he had been much more tired than normal. He would have to search for the counter-Potion another time.

He passed Harry another vial of Potion, which Harry downed. A few moments later, his eyes were back to normal. "Well?" Harry asked, excitedly. "What did I say?"

"I knew you had stolen from my storeroom before." Severus said, dryly. He put the unneeded Potions away and left the tray of vials on the counter. He poured himself a glass of firewhiskey and began sipping it nonchalantly. He was going to have to invite Potter to bed, which was something he really didn't feel like doing. At least maybe he could be numb.

Harry stifled a yawn, causing Snape to look sharply at him. "Are you tired?" Snape asked.

"Kind of." Harry didn't like to admit it. It seemed to convey some sort of vulnerability that he didn't like to show in front of Snape. "Not too much, though." He quickly added.

Snape just nodded, as if he didn't believe Harry. "I suppose it is time for bed, then." He said. He nodded towards the closed doors off the dining area. "Bathroom is on the right, bedroom on the left."

Harry nodded slowly, heading towards the bathroom slowly as if he didn't trust Severus. Severus finished off his glass of firewhiskey and with a reluctant sigh, went into the bedroom. Decorated in green and black, it was the bedroom of a true Slytherin.

_This is going to anger Potter, _Snape thought gleefully. He searched around the room, looking for anything he might want to hide from Potter. He tucked the picture of him and Lily into a dresser drawer, and considered hiding the book on Dark Magic before realizing that Potter already knew of his fascination with the subject, so left the book on the nightstand.

Potter awkwardly stepped into the bedroom, a nervous expression clearly visible on his face. His black hair was almost as greasy and messy as his own black hair, Severus noted. _I need a shower, _Severus thought, hating the grimy feeling he felt on himself, _I haven't had one since Monday morning. _Contrary to what was popular belief for students, Severus did have good hygiene habits.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Snape snapped. He began to pull off his robes..

Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. What did Snape want? Was he really supposed to- Did Snape and Dumbledore expect him to- _Now, stop it – you saw it coming a million miles off,_Harry scolded himself. _Adoption or not, it was either that or marriage... sleeping next to him will be nothing. J-Just don't think about it._ Harry wasn't about to admit this to anyone, but he was a virgin. He felt like he had a pretty good excuse though – he had been too busy learning to fight Dark Magic to have sex with anyone. Somehow sleeping next to someone was just as personal, though.

He watched Snape pull off his robes and lay them aside. The man was extremely pale, almost unnaturally so. He was very thin, his skin stretching over his bones. His Dark Mark was extremely visible on his left arm, brightly contrasting against the pale skin. The man wasn't quite skin and bones though – taut muscles were evident in his arms and stomach.

"What is it?" Severus sneered, hiding his self-consciousness as well as he could hide any one of his emotions. He didn't just take his robes off in front of anyone, but he had to, in front of Potter. Skin-on-skin contact was very important, one book had emphasized.

"Nothing." Harry said quickly, taking off his robes and laying them aside. He pulled off his scarlet jumper and shirt, then put them on top of his robes. He looked up to stare defiantly in Snape's face, which, surprisingly, showed emotion.

"What happened to you?" Severus asked, forgetting to hide his concern behind his mask as he leaned across the bed to examine the scars on Harry's body.

Harry wrapped his arms around his body, self-consciously. "Nothing." He muttered, turning away from Snape, which proved to be a mistake.

"Potter!" Severus exclaimed, leaping over the bed to the younger man. "What are these?" He ran a finger over a long raised scar over Potter's back.

Harry jerked away at Snape's touch. He didn't like to be touched by anyone, especially the man's cold fingers. "Scars." Harry said, a touch of annoyance in his voice.

Severus drew back, a cold expression on his face. "Suit yourself." He said, coldly, turning away from Harry. "I put your trunk on the nightstand on the left side of the bed – your side."

"Oh, thanks; my own side of the bed." Harry said sarcastically, picking up his trunk and putting it back to it's proper size. When he looked up, he saw that his professor had changed into a simple grey nightshirt, and was pulling back the covers of the bed.

Harry quickly changed into his pajamas and eased into the bed next to Snape. The bed, although wider than the twin bed that they had shared in the infirmary, was still not the widest of beds, and Harry felt every hair on his body stand straight up as he touched Snape's cold skin. _The man is a living freezer, _he thought, wrapping the covers around his body. He turned on his side, facing away from Snape, hoping against hope that he would fall asleep without having nightmares.

"Goodnight." Snape said flatly.

"Goodnight." Harry returned in an equal tone.

_Merlin, now all of a sudden I am legally his... his father? _The thought made Severus want to retch. _That is perfect, just perfect..._

_Dumbledore sees this all as perfect. The old kook finds it_ amusing _that I should have this Bond with him, with someone I hate so much. He knows we will either become best friends or kill each other... I hardly see what is so amusing about that. But then again, maybe he thought we'd be doing something else... that book _did _recommend it, but there is no chance of me doing that._

Just as Harry began to be drifting off to sleep, he heard Snape speak. "Potter?" He didn't use the anger or coldness he normally did - he was just getting his attention.

"Yeah?" Harry said, sleepily.

"Remember the Occlumency lessons I gave you? The ones you ultimately failed at?"

Harry was too tired to argue. "Yeah."

"It is important to shield your mind from Dumbledore tomorrow." Snape said.

"Why?" What Snape said jerked Harry awake.

He heard a sigh escape from Snape's frame. "Because he might, regardless of the adoption, he _might_ expecting you to lose your virginity to me tonight, and I refuse to violate Lily's son, nor will I fuck James'."

"Oh." Harry said, his mind reeling with questions. Had did Snape know that he was a virgin? Was sex necessary? Would they die without it?

"Dumbledore has a habit of knowing everything about a person, whether they tell anyone or not." Snape seemed to know what Harry was thinking, without use of Legilimency. "I think that we will be just fine avoiding that particular physical act."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Snape continued to speak. "Whenever you are in Dumbledore's presence tomorrow, focus on a single image. One of trees, or water, fire, or light. If you focus on it enough, and shift away the images of what we did, or didn't do, rather, he might not be able to penetrate."

_Well, _now _he finally tells me how to use Occlumency, _Harry thought. "But won't he realize that I'm trying to block him from me?"

"He might." Severus mused. "But at least he will realize that he should mind his own business, the old dingbat."

"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, rolling over to his other side to look at Snape. "I thought you _liked_ Dumbledore!"

"He is a fine man and a very talented Wizard." Snape said. "However, we are only taking his orders as advice, as we are both fully-grown adults, we do not _have_ to do anything he says." He eyed Harry carefully. "Certainly you have no qualms about this."

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "I- er, no." _Merlin, this is the most perverted Bond ever created. _Honestly, he couldn't think of anything he wanted less. He would much rather face Voldemort yet another time.

"Good." Snape said with a curt nod. "And I thought we could never be in agreement over anything."


	14. Rumors

**Chapter Fourteen**

"**Rumors"**

* * *

"Wake up, Potter!" Severus growled the next morning, pulling on a dressing gown over his bare chest.

"Leave me alone, Snape." Potter groaned, rolling over, taking over Severus' now vacant right side of the bed.

"It's still _Professor_ Snape to you, Potter." Severus whipped the covers back, exposing Potter's bare torso. Severus tried not to wince at the white scars that literally covered the boy's body – it brought memories back to Severus that Severus didn't want to think about. "You're reminding me of Draco Malfoy."

"How so?" Potter didn't move, but sounded much more awake than he did only moments ago.

"Getting him out of bed is next to impossible." Severus scoffed. "You brats are more alike than you realize."

Potter bolted upright. "I. Am. Nothing. Like. Malfoy." He said, venomously.

"Prove it." Severus haughtily said. "Get in the shower. I shall be there in a moment."

_Get in the shower? With Snape?_ Harry stood his ground. "No." He said.

Snape raised a brow at Harry. "No?" He repeated.

"No." Harry said. "It's effing five-thirty in the morning. You take a five minute shower, I'll take a five minute shower. We don't need to take one together. It will barely mess with our charge at all."

Severus had toyed with that idea far into the night, and decided to go ahead with his plan. Every second together was crucial and what with Potter's skills in Occlumency, a quick shower together would only better their chances of deluding Dumbledore. If Potter could keep his shower in mind when talking to Dumbledore, maybe Dumbledore wouldn't look any further... Dumbledore could not _make_ Severus do anything, but Dumbledore did have a nagging tendency when things were not going the way he thought best.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said crisply.

Harry shook his head. "Not doing it."

"Fifteen points." Snape said. "You're down twenty-five now, Potter."

"I'm not getting in the shower with you!" Harry insisted. "It'd be gross, and disgusting, and-"

"Another twenty-five points from Gryffindor – you're down fifty points." Snape gave a sick sort of smile. "I suppose Slytherin is now guaranteed the House Cup this year."

Harry's face was red with rage. "You can't make me do it! It's not fair, blackmailing me like this!"

"Since when have Slytherins ever played fair?" Severus sneered, grabbing the back of Potter's head by his hair. It was very thick and wavy – and thick with three days worth of dirt and oil. Severus made a disgusted face as he pushed Potter into the rather spacious bathroom, stepped inside, brandished his wand and silently locked the door with a complicated piece of Dark Magic. Potter's wand was still on the bedside – Potter would never be able to unlock the door, with his wand or without it.

"I'll break down the door!" Harry threatened, trying to unravel Snape's cold fingers from his hair.

"Likely." Snape said. "What with those strong muscles of yours, I'm sure you will have it broken down in a year or two. In the meantime though, you can strip and get into the shower."

Harry shook his head. "Not doing it." _You've stolen my girlfriend, my future, my friends... everything but my dignity. I'm not giving that away._

"Then you will be a little upset when I use this disrobing spell on you." Snape said, turning his nose up in the air. "_Induviae Exuo!_"

Instantly, Harry's clothes disappeared. Harry immediately used his hands, desperately trying to cover what he could. "N-N-Not fair!" He stammered in anger. _I can't believe he did that! That is just... cruel._

Severus tried to keep his calm demeanor as he reached inside the large shower, which was plenty large enough for two, by the way, and turned on the hot water. "Adjust the water to your liking, Potter – I do not care."

Stomping angrily, like a child, Potter stomped over to the shower and got inside, hiding himself the best he could behind the glass shower doors. Severus just shook his head. He was just as angry as Potter – why did Potter have to put up such a fuss? It would make everything so much easier on them if Potter would just corporate.

Severus' hands shook with frustration as he pulled his dressing gown off and laid it aside. Taking off his remaining clothing, he began to slip into the shower. _Remain calm, _he said, _if you let Potter see your anger or frustration, you've lost. _For Severus was not an idiot – he knew that on Monday, when Potter had _somehow_ drank the Potion, a silent war had began.

* * *

Severus slipped in to see dark anger glinting in Potter's eyes. The boy was obviously more self-conscious than Severus realized.

_Do not say a word, Severus – if you do, you'll slip. _Silently, he passed the bottle of Potion to Potter, which worked as a shampoo.

"What's this?" Potter taunted. "Is it specialized for greasy hair? Because if it is, it's not working."

"Shut it, Potter." Severus snapped. He had once been self-conscious about his oily hair, but had quickly gotten over it. That was just the way he hair grew out of his scalp, and no amount of Potions, magic, or washing was going to change that. As a matter of fact, washing it too frequently made it worse.

"Or what?" Harry continued to try the Potions Master. He had lost everything now – what did he have to lose? More points from Gryffindor? It wasn't as if Gryffindor would accept him as one of their own as soon as they found out about the Bond with the horrid Slytherin Head of House. "You'll put me in detention? Expel me? Take away points from Gryffindor?"

"Keep you in from your Quidditch practice tonight." Severus said, keeping his mask firmly in place. He had had a mask for as long as he could remember, one that showed no emotion whatsoever. It had come in handy many times over the years, and this time was no exception. "Do not think for a moment that I will not, Potter."

_I really hate that man, _Harry thought grudgingly as he lathered up the Potion in his hair. _He's evil, slimy, and no wonder my mother didn't want to be with him – he's the smallest I've seen since-_

"Care to share, Potter?" Snape barked, looking at Harry with eyes that were filled with malicious intent.

"Just looking at something." Harry quickly busied himself with rinsing the suds out of his hair.

"And what is that, I ask."

"Nothing much."

Severus was a lot of things; he was a teacher, a former Death Eater, a Half-Blood, a loner, a loser, and the one who always managed to get picked on. But one thing he wasn't was an idiot. He had been around enough idiotic children in his thirty-eight years to fully understand what Potter meant by "nothing much".

"One hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor." Severus said icily. "And you can forget playing Quidditch _at all_ this year."

Harry's breath caught in his throat. He thought he had been prepared for that, but he wasn't. _Don't argue, _he told himself. _That'll just make him feel victorious. _He glanced at Snape's pale unclothed body once more before climbing out of the shower. _Haha... it is _on_,_ he laughed to himself.

* * *

Harry Potter had seen a lot of war in his lifetime. When he was a year old, the most powerful Wizard in the world came into his house and tried to kill him. When he was eleven, he once again defeated that Wizard, face-to-face. And again when he was twelve. And when he was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. And let us not forget everything he went through with the evil Wizard's minions when he was thirteen. That had been hard work and emotionally stretching – the new war that was being fought would be fun. Fun all the way.

"Hey Seamus," Harry sat down next to the Finnegan boy and reached for an apple an hour after showering. Harry had to admit that one thing about Snape had impressed him – after Snape's hair dried, Harry witnessed it being _clean_. Not greasy at all, but just _normal_. It was already getting greasy though, by the time they went up to the Great Hall.

"Hey Harry," Seamus said, his mouth full of toast. "Where've you been? The dorm hasn't been the same without you."

"I've had detention." Harry lied. Well, it was technically the truth – Snape had given him detention. "But you won't believe what I found out." He acted as if he could barely contain his excitement. And he barely could.

"What?" Seamus leaned forward.

"You have to promise not to tell _anyone_." Harry warned Seamus. "Especially not that I told you, or Snape will give me even more detentions."

"What?" Seamus looked positively ecstatic – he always loved juicy news.

Harry took a deep breath. "It's Snape. I was looking for a fresh ink bottle, digging through his stuff and you won't believe it." He drew in a dramatic breath. "Snape used to be a _woman_."

"_No_!" Seamus looked with wide eyes, his mouth dropped open. "No kidding?"

Harry shook his head. "It's true, I swear."

"Oh Merlin," Seamus looked in awe. "This is _good_ – we have to spread this around school! Oh Merlin, the Slytherins are gonna _really_ hate us now."

"Don't spread it around school." Harry warned, though cackling gleefully on the inside.

"Oh, of course not. You can trust me, Harry." Seamus assured the green eyed boy.

Harry contentedly took a bite of sausage. _Take that, Professor Snape._


	15. Dodging

**Chapter Fifteen**

"**Dodging"**

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Albus?" Severus asked, in Dumbledore's office. "I have Advanced Potions for Gryffindors and Slytherins in fifteen minutes."

"Of course." Dumbledore said. "Severus, why didn't you tell me about this sex change of yours? When did it happen?" A twinkle was in the old man's blue eyes.

Severus bolted out of his chair. "Sex change?" _What is he talking about? Sex change? Why would I ever have a sex change? _He leaned across the desk, his face close to Dumbledore's. "Who told you I had a sex change?"

"Then you don't deny it." Dumbledore chuckled. Then, seeing the Potions Master's frantic face, he smiled. "I know you haven't, Severus. But I thought you might want to be aware of the little rumor floating around the school."

"Rumor?" Severus' throat was dry. "Who-" His eyes narrowed. "Potter."

"Potter?" Dumbledore prodded.

"He was very angry this morning." Severus searched. "I took two hundred points away from Gryffindor, and-"

"Two _hundred_?" Dumbledore seemed bemused.

"It is a long story, Headmaster." Severus didn't want to bother to explain. And explaining why he took away those last one hundred and fifty points was something he wasn't too keen on doing. "I assure you, it was merited."

Dumbledore nodded, slowly. "How did it go last night?"

_Damn! _Potter was making him do things he normally would never do, like to forget to use Occlumency when needed. "It went as expected. The boy is ornery and irrational, just like his father."

Dumbledore coughed. "Indeed, Severus?"

Severus nodded, making sure to make eye contact with Dumbledore, but not too much. He was a Slytherin, and had worked as a spy for many years – he understood the art to lying. He blinked, but made sure not to open his eyes too wide. "Potter has quite a lack of experience. It did not fall into the realm of 'pleasure', at all."

The Headmaster gave Severus a curious look. "You're hiding something." He said slowly.

Severus chuckled. "You do not expect me to let you look into my mind, Albus. Some things are meant to stay private, whether done willingly or not." _Please buy that, Dumbledore! _Severus pleaded in his mind. He had spent hours turning over the situation in his mind – the last thing he needed was for Dumbledore to insist being more physical with Potter than he had to. _And if he does insist, I won't do it,_Severus thought. _We__ will not._ Severus had promised himself to never get involved with a student or colleague long ago, which had never been a problem – he hadn't been in love, nowhere near, since Lily.

Dumbledore seemed satisfied with this answer. "Very good. I will speak to you later, Severus."

* * *

Harry stepped into the Great Hall and eyed Ron sitting with Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Ron took one look at Harry and scowled. Hermione looked at Harry, shrugged, and turned back to her book.

Harry sighed, going over to where they were sitting together and sitting across from them. They had been like that all day; Ron, mean and hateful, and Hermione, not speaking so much to Harry, but not exactly siding with her boyfriend either. Their company was not the most enjoyable, but Harry needed to be with them emotionally as much as he needed to be near Snape physically.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked, taking his seat.

"Where were you just now?" Hermione asked. "I was hoping on talking with you in private!"

_Never happening, _Harry thought grudgingly. "I was up in the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey wanted to give me another once-over."

"Oh, really?" Ron snapped, speaking to Harry for the first time that day. "For eating a bad piece of meat? Really? Would that really require another examination? I'm no Medi-Wizard, but something tells me that you're hiding something, Harry, and I don't like it!" Hatred glinted in his eyes. "Where were you last night, eh?"

"Where do you think I was?" Harry muttered. "Detention with Snape."

Hermione looked at Harry, horrified. "Detention?" She looked as if you were about to scream. "What did you do? We're all out of points, I noticed! All our points are _gone_! What did you _do_?"

"I..." Harry hadn't thought of this part of the plan.

"Do you know what _I_ think, Hermione?" Ron spoke up. "I think he was probably off shagging some girl somewhere after hours and got _caught_. _That_ is why we've lost all of those-"

"Shut up, Ron." Ginny appeared behind Harry, her blue eyes glinting angrily at her older brother.

Harry jumped at hearing Ginny's voice and turned to look at her. _Oh, Merlin_! Harry could not believe how beautiful she was. She wore the same things other Gryffindor girls did, but somehow, she was more gorgeous in them than any of the others.

"Don't you even _look_ at my sister!" Ron snapped, ignoring Ginny. He pointed his wand at Harry. "_You_ are nothing but a-"

"Is there a problem here, Mr. Weasley?" Snape's monotone voice did not have to bellow across the table – his voice was so commanding, it could make anyone freeze in their tracks. Snape was standing behind Ron.

Ron turned around and glared at Snape. "It's none of your business."

"Oh really, Mr. Weasley?" Snape said. "Well, I would take away five points from Gryffindor for that, but seeing how Gryffindor has already lost all their points..." He gave a sick sort of chuckle before beginning to walk away, assured that Ron wouldn't be causing too much of a ruckus that night. The chuckle made Harry's insides wrench. _The bastard._

"Professor Snape?" Hermione began. "Just to clear things up between Harry and Ron here – was Harry in detention last night?"

"Of course, Miss Granger." Snape's voice was fluid and smooth. Technically, the detention had been called off since Harry had taken the Veritaserum, so it was a complete lie. "He spent his night chopping up varieties of roots for me, and he will be for the next week and a half."

Hermione's mouth dropped open as Snape walked off. "What did you do to get _that_ much detention?" Anger flared in her eyes. "Isn't the House Cup important to you at all this year? It's our last year – don't you want to make the most of it and-"

"Shut up, Hermione!" Harry said, getting up from the table and stalking away, leaving Ron, Hermione and Ginny on their own. _What did Ginny tell Ron? _Harry thought angrily as was on his way out of the Great Hall. _Why couldn't she have just said that she chose to break it off? Or that she was feeling ill? Or_- He stopped as he heard a Slytherin boy call out to him.

"Hey! Thanks for the support, Potter!" He called out, earning snickers from his fellow Slytherins.

Harry whirled around. "What are you talking about?"

A thin-lipped Professor McGonagall marched over to Harry and nudged him out of the Great Hall. "Take off your robes, Potter." She said firmly.

"My... robes?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yes, Potter, your robes!" She said, exasperated.

Harry pulled his robes off. He was wearing a grey uniform underneath, of course, but it was still humiliating to be standing in the entrance hall and having to take off your robes.

"What is this?" McGonagall asked, showing Harry the back of his robes.

Harry's eyes widened. Normally, the back of school robes were a solid black, but today, they had a green snake on it – the Slytherin symbol. "I didn't..." He stuttered.

Her thin-lipped smile, as thin as it was, reassured him. "I know it, Potter – I believe this was Severus' idea of a joke."

Harry's mouth dropped open. Of course, it would be obvious to Snape who had spread the sex-change rumor, but he hadn't expected the man to retaliate so quickly or by a prank. "He... he... How do we get it off?" He asked.

She waved her wand over the back of the robes and the snake disappeared. "Potter, how are you and Severus getting on?" She eyed him critically, not yet giving him back the robes.

"Fine." Harry lied.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "I am well-aware of the situation you two share, but when I heard about last night, I must admit, I was worried for you."

Harry shrugged, his mind going back to the creepy adoption guy. "It was nothing – just a bunch of signing papers."

McGonagall eyed Harry even more critically. "I was speaking of the... making love." Her face turned beet red just speaking of it.

"Oh!" Harry's eyes widened. Had he not been searching so feverishly for a good thing to say, he would have found McGonagall's words and reactions to them priceless. "Well, you do what you've got to do." He shrugged.

She nodded. "You didn't do it, did you?"

_Quick, Harry, think of something!_ "What makes you say that?" Harry asked, pretending to be both angry and hurt, instead of scared out of his wits that they were found out.. "I go through one of the most horrid and scarring experiences of my life, and all I get for it is 'you didn't do it, did you'? Thanks a lot, Professor!" He snatched his robes from her, pulled them over his head and marched back into the Great Hall, this time sitting as far away from Hermione, Ron and Ginny as possible.

_Good job. _He silently congratulated himself as he helped himself to some steak-and-kidney pie, ignoring all the questions and quips from other Gryffindors about Harry's robes. _Now, what would piss Snape off more than anything..?_


	16. Change

**Chapter Sixteen**

"**Change"**

* * *

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Every day was generally the same; Severus would wake up at five-thirty and get into the shower. Sometimes Harry would join him, but not often – his latest "plan" to annoy Severus was apparently not showering. They would finish last-minute lesson plans and homework before eating at the Great Hall, going to their respective classes, eat lunch, go to more classes, meet each other at the infirmary for an hour at five, and then go to the Great Hall at six, retreating to their private chambers at seven.

Quidditch went well for Harry, he supposed. Snape had let him back on the team, and Gryffindor was in the lead for the Quidditch Cup, which normally would have excited Harry, but it didn't then. He had no one to share his excitement with – Ginny didn't talk to him, but just gave him sad eyes. Ron just scowled and Hermione had all but given up talking to Harry. He was distant and Ron got angry whenever she did speak to him, so he didn't do it often.

After the snake-on-robes trick, Snape kept tripping over his own feet, over something invisible. Then Harry started babbling nonsense, and couldn't stop. Snape's hair then turned itself scarlet and yellow, coincidentally, the Gryffindor colors. By then, everyone had seemed to notice the silent war between Harry and Snape, and watched with wide eyes. It was against Hogwarts rules to curse professors, even as pranks, so they were all wondering how Harry got away with it.

"Harry, scoot away." Hermione wrinkled her nose as she whispered. "When was the last you had a shower?"

"Er... Tuesday... two weeks ago?" Harry suggested idly as he threw some chopped Oak twigs into his Potion.

"Two and a half weeks ago?" She gaped. "Harry! You can't do this to yourself! And where have you been? You haven't been to the Common Room in ages?"

"I've been busy." Harry muttered. "Detention and all."

"With Snape? You were supposed to finish up detention with him _weeks_ ago."

"Well, it's been extended, okay?" Harry was frustrated. Talking with Hermione would ruin his latest plan to attack Snape.

"...if done properly, it will turn green and start to bubble." Severus leaned under his desk to pick up a book he had put under it, too large for the desk.

"That's what she said." Severus heard a voice quip. He looked up over his desk and immediately looked over at Potter, who was staring at him, green eyes wide with hatred. Potter's face was formed in a seemingly permanent scowl.

"Enough, Potter." Severus said, hiding his tired voice from the seventh-year Gryffindors and Slytherins. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in eight weeks, ever since the Bond formed. He was tired of fighting with the eighteen-year-old. He had given up on pranking the boy, and now took to ignoring him as much as possible. All Severus wanted to do was function, and Potter seemed bent on making that impossible.

"That's what she said." Potter smirked. The other students, Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, turned to stare at Potter. Pranks were one thing, but playing pranks in Potions? That was certain death.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor." Snape said, eyes narrowing. _Go easy on him... _he reminded himself of his new resolution. He knew the boy was in pain over his life being ruined, thanks to the Bond, but Severus' life was ruined as well. At least he was _trying_ to accept it.

A moan rose up in the class. Gryffindor had managed to scrape up one hundred and fifty points in the past two months, but they were still behind the other Houses. They couldn't afford to lose any more points.

Harry looked at the people around him. Both Ron and Hermione had their faces set in deep scowls at him. Ginny was... where was Ginny?

"Now, while you are letting your Potions sit, must I remind you what to do with these when you are done with them?" Severus held up a metal stick used to stir Potions. "Clean it off and put them back into your bags. If you do not keep it in there, I will be very displeased."

A scoff came from the left side of the room. "That's what she said." Potter said. The rest of the room couldn't resist that – titters broke out everywhere.

"Potter!" Severus barked. He could not afford to lose control over his classroom just because detention threats didn't work on Potter anymore (he could only do his time with Severus and any chore Severus could set him to he did with a smirk on his face). The tittering stopped. "If you cannot behave in my classroom, I will have to ask you to leave." He tried to keep his voice calm, keeping the calm mask on his face.

"That's what she said."

"Potter! Out!" Severus pointed to the door with his wand.

With a smirk, Potter grabbed his bag and stormed out the door, slamming it as he went.

Severus went on teaching, but his mind wasn't on his lesson. Potter had frazzled him to such a point the past few weeks. He had found a white hair that morning. He thought that if trying to live with Potter was anything like trying to raise a teenage son, then he was glad he didn't have children.

_And to think how close I came to Potter being mine... or not. _He shuddered at the thought. On one hand, he loved Lily and would do anything – anything – to bring her back to life, to keep their friendship alive. Yes, he would have liked to marry Lily, but since she apparently never cared for him that way...

It was a frustrating situation to be in. He hated Potter, but the past eight weeks had been more torture than Severus could imagine. He had decided the week before to try being kinder to the boy, as hard as it was. Perhaps if he and Potter could just get along – not be friends, but just get along – life would be easier. But Potter only seemed to grow more ornery with every effort Severus had made.

What frustrated Severus more was that there was no one to go to to ask for advice or even vent. Everyone trusted Dumbledore and was on his side, regardless. And Severus could not help but be pretty angry at Dumbledore right then. Dumbledore, for finding the situation so amusing, was not very helpful. He had denied Severus' request to live at Hogwarts over the summer, and then had the gall to suggest staying at Sirius Black's place, which now belonged to Harry. The place was horrible – Severus could not stand it there. And plus, he would have to ask Potter first, which would take away some of the control he had in the situation. Severus could not stand to be out of control.

_I wonder where he's off to, _Severus wondered where the arrogant prat had run to. But he didn't have much time to wonder, because Longbottom's cauldron exploded right then.

* * *

Harry strode down the corridor, glad to be out of Potions. He didn't think Snape would have actually kicked him _out_, what with the Bond being so important and all, with the charge, but he was glad he did. He just had to get some time _alone_.

_When was the last time I was alone? _He wondered. He had had a few minutes every morning while the miserable git showered. Snape had given up on trying to drag him to the shower, for which Harry was grateful. It gave him time to think and plus, he knew he was driving Snape crazy with his stench. He knew that Snape had performed a couple cleansing spells on him while Harry had been asleep, but it hadn't done much good – Harry still stunk. It didn't really bother him, though – he had no one to look nice for. After all, he had promised himself that he would move on from Ginny.

_Ginny._ He promised himself that he would move on, but he really hadn't, and he knew it. He didn't want to move on. If he moved on, it would mean he didn't care and that he might forget. And he didn't want to forget anything about her. He constantly thought of her wide smile, her bright hair, her blue eyes, her never-ending amount of freckles... he had once told her that he would someday count the number of freckles on her body, and she welcomed the idea. They never had though – they had been so busy with Voldemort, school, and other things that they hadn't gotten a chance to do anything that normal seventeen and eighteen-year-olds did, like have sex.

He wasn't obsessed with sex at all, but he would have liked the chance just to experience it. _And now I never will, _he thought gloomily.

He walked into the library. _It will be nice and quiet in here, _he thought. _Time to be alone, to think, to-_ he was interrupted by a moan. _A moan? What the hell... _he smiled slightly. _Aha, some people are having _fun_..._

He rounded a corner, expecting to see maybe a couple of fifth-years. He would startle them, scare them, embarrass them... it would be great fun. _I wish Ron was here, _he thought wistfully. Ron was still angry with him for "breaking Ginny's heart", but then again, Ron didn't know that Harry's heart was breaking just as much.

But it wasn't a couple of fifth-years. It was a tall blonde boy passionately kissing a shorter red-headed girl – Ginny. A strangled sob found its way into Harry's throat. He dropped his bag and ran blindly out of the library.

_Ginny. Is. Snogging. Draco. Malfoy. _The blood pounded in his ears as he ran out the Entrance Hall doors, tears distorting his vision. He was running aimlessly across the grounds, with no particular destination. _What happened to missing me? Crying? So Ron has been pissed at me all this time over nothing? Because she didn't really care – give her eight weeks and she's completely over me. Over me enough to be kissing that... that _ferret _bastard!_


	17. Near The End

**Chapter Seventeen**

"**Near The End"**

* * *

"Ah... Severus! What is it that I can do for you?" Dumbledore asked, a cheery smile on his face.

Severus took a deep breath, sitting down on a chair across from Dumbledore's desk without invitation. "I have been studying and brewing for weeks now, Headmaster. I am no closer to finding a counter-Potion."

Dumbledore nodded. "If anyone can find it, Severus, I am sure you can."

"Yes, thank you, Headmaster."

"Remember when you were in your fifth-year?" Dumbledore reminisced. "You brewed that Potion that could heal cuts without leaving scars, guaranteed. Not any fifth-year could do that."

What Dumbledore hadn't known was how important that was to Severus. The last think he had needed was scars to remind himself of the horrid beatings Severus had received as a child.

Severus needed to speak before he found his nerve. "Headmaster, do you know how the dragon hide flakes got on Longbottom's desk?"

"How would I, Severus?"

"I haven't a clue." Severus admitted. "But I keep coming back to that – we have come to the conclusion that Potter accidentally swallowed a drop or so, somehow, but as for how the dragon hide flakes got on the desk in the first place..." he shook his head. "It makes no sense, Headmaster."

"Could a student have summoned it?" Dumbledore inquired.

"It is possible." Severus said. "But I highly doubt a student did – who would have?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Dragon hide flakes can resemble cornflick seeds. Perhaps you-"

"There is no possible way I put dragon hide flakes on Longbottom's desk!" Severus snapped. "I do _not_ make mistakes such as that, Headmaster!"

The Headmaster just smiled and nodded, used to such outbursts. "I have a feeling that this is not the only reason you have come to see me, Severus."

Severus shook his head. "You know I am not accustomed to asking for advice..."

Merlin, did Dumbledore know. He could count the times that the boy came for counsel in the past however many years on one hand.

"But I do not know what to do about the Potter boy!" Severus admitted.

"What do you mean, Severus?" Dumbledore inquired.

Severus shook his head. "He is driving me absolutely mad, Headmaster. More so than I ever thought possible. I had thought that if he continued to be afraid of me, that if he continued to fear me, that he would have respect and not act the way he is now! I have tried ignoring him, and that does not work. The-"

"Have you tried being kind to the boy" Dumbledore interjected.

Severus started at the Headmaster incredulously. "Kind?" He repeated in shock.

Dumbledore nodded. "Surely if you showed some kindness to him, he would be more willing to corporate." He shook his head. "From the way you two get along, I am surprised you manage to do what you do with him at all!"

_What? Sleep in the same bed with him? _Because that was about it, though Severus still deemed themselves lucky that Dumbledore did not know that that they had never done more than that, or he had given up on pursuing it.

"I am as kind to him as the boy deserves." Severus growled under his breath, ignoring the little voice in his head reminding him that that was less than true.

* * *

"Dylan lied!" The small Slytherin boy accused. "He said that if I swallowed that piece of candy, it would make me grow taller! But instead it made my nose bleed and bleed and it wouldn't stop until he gave me that other piece!"

Severus groaned. Though George and Fred Weasley had left the school long ago (well, Fred was still a ghost), their products were possessed by children everywhere. "Dylan, no more Weasley products in these dungeons again. Peter, don't be so ignorant to believe those outright lies again. Do you think that if Dylan really did have a piece of candy that made one grow that he would give it to you rather than take it himself? Five points from Slytherin for stupidity." First-years... Severus hated them with a strong passion, more than he hated other students, that was.

It was hours later, eight o'clock at night. Potter hadn't shown up at the infirmary for their time before supper, nor had he shown up at supper itself. Severus was thoroughly convinced that the boy was out hiding somewhere, but surely he would come to his senses as soon as he started to feel weak. Severus certainly was.

"Do you have any more nonsense that needs sorted out before I retire for the night?" Severus asked, rather threateningly. The first-year boys shook their heads as Severus knew they would. Severus nodded curtly and turned from the room, shutting the door behind him as he went.

The Common Room was empty, save a tall figure that was trying to stay hidden in the shadows. "Draco." Severus addressed the boy quietly. After all those years, did his godson really think that he could hide from him?

"Uncle Sev." the boy stepped out of the shadows, addressing his godfather as he always did outside school.

"You were not in the seventh-year's dormitory." Severus stated. "Nor were you in this Common Room earlier this evening - where were you?"

"Thinking." The blonde said quietly.

Severus nodded. "That is always a good start. I'm glad to realize you finally understand it's importance."

"Er... Uncle Sev? If I asked you something... promise you won't get mad?" Draco asked, stepping closer to the greasy-haired man.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Draco - do you not know me that well? If I think it is worthy of rousing my anger, then I damn well will."

"Right..." Draco said, suddenly finding something very interesting on his black shoes. "Well, do you remember that Potion that that squib Longbottom made a couple months ago? The one with the dragon hide?"

Severus froze. He felt goosebumps rise on the back of his neck, the hairs on his arms standing straight up under his robes. He had thought that all students would have forgotten about that incident weeks ago. "I remember." Severus said, coolly.

"Do you remember how you told us not to touch it?" Draco asked, growing quieter.

"Damn it, Draco! What is it?" Severus roared, causing Draco to flinch.

Draco looked down at his shiny shoes. "I've... for years... been changing Longbottom's ingredients. Just random stuff, you know... he never did notice the difference between the ingredients... I never dreamed you would ever drink it, sir."

"I... I saw that you were pretty upset that you had drank it, so I thought it was supposed to cause massive stomach aches or something... so I put some in Potter's pumpkin juice that evening." Draco said the last bit quickly. "I know he got sick, but I looked it up in books and can't find any Potions that have those ingredients in it... what was it, Uncle Sev?"

Severus was quiet. _Draco did it! _His brain screamed wildly. _Of course! He hates Potter! But whoever thought he would be stupid, immature and reckless enough to... _"Draco Malfoy." He said flatly, only keeping his voice from shaking with anger with years of practice. "Two hundred points from Slytherin."

Draco's eyes popped. Severus had never taken that much from Slytherin at one time - never. The most he had ever taken was ten or fifteen, and that was rare. It was normally only five points, and that was only when he was extra crabby.

"And I will see to it personally that you are expelled from this school." Severus continued. "Good day, Mr. Malfoy." He whirled around on his heel and marched out the door, leaving a floored Malfoy just standing there.

* * *

_The boy had better be in our chambers, or he will be writing lines until he turns thirty, _Severus thought as he walked down the dungeon corridor. He was starting to get a slight headache. _Does he not realize how important it is to show up on time at certain places?_

_Draco Malfoy. _He scowled. He had accepted the offer to be the boy's godfather during his spy years – had he not accepted, he might have looked suspicious. Severus understood a lot about the boy and had forgiven a lot, but it was just too much now – he had managed on ruining Severus' life, just for laughs.

He heard a scream from his corridors. _Potter!_ Brandishing his wand, Severus ran the remaining distance to his chambers. The first thing he noticed was that the door was open, the second thing he noticed was the loud _Thud_!'s that were coming from the room. He peered inside.

Severus watched from the doorway, in silence. He kept his wand in hand, in case he would need to use it. Potter was wildly thrashing around the room, knocking Severus' books off the shelves, punching his fist into the wall, kicking the furniture around, screaming in rage.

_He's so young and confused, S_everus realized, for the first time feeling a sense of pity for him. _He didn't ask for this. He had his whole life ahead of him. Maybe anger is the only way he can show it, he feels. Who does _that _remind you of?_

"Potter." Severus said quietly. Not harsh at all, but just to alert his presence.

Potter didn't seem to hear him. He continued his thrashing and was now tearing the old valuable books off the shelf onto a heap on the floor.

"Potter!" Severus said, a little louder, not moving from the doorway - he didn't dare get closer to the enraged boy. Words began babbling out of his mouth, in attempt to stop Potter. "It's okay! Potter, it's okay."

"It's not 'okay'! It is never gonna be just 'okay'!" Potter didn't even stop to look at Severus as he continued his destruction. "You don't care about me and everyone who does care about me is mad at me or shagging someone who doesn't care about me!"

_What the hell, _Severus thought. _What is he talking about?_ "Potter, you need to stop." He said firmly. "Those are priceless books you are kicking around there and-"

Suddenly, Potter turned and viciously pointed his wand at Severus. "Don't. Tell. Me. What. To. Do." He spat venomously.

"Lower your wand, Potter." Severus said carefully, watching the savage boy thrash about, memories of his own past creeping up on him. How many years had it been since he had done that? Thrashed around his dorm room, screaming and cursing anything that moved, swearing at his Head of House, and promptly getting detention for it? All because he was too scared, too angry to go home for the summer holidays.

"This is all your fault!" Potter continued to rage, not taking his eyes off the Potions teacher. "It was Neville's Potion. Just because it was the right color doesn't mean you drink it! Merlin, everyone thinks that you're brilliant, but I know the truth! You're nothing but an idiot! An absolute idiot! This is all your fault that my life is ruined! Fucking ruined!"

Severus didn't say anything. He had regretted putting Longbottom's Potion in his mouth from the instant he did, but he did. He knew it wasn't his fault he was in the situation he was in, and had quite frankly received worse insults. Potter's words didn't bother him a bit.

"Lower your wand, Potter." Severus repeated firmly.

"You first." Potter challenged. "Or are you a coward?" He laughed maliciously.

_No, not a coward, but contrary to what you just said, I am not a complete dunderhead either, _Severus thought grimly. "Drop your wand." He said. "You don't want to hurt anyone."

"Oh, I think I do." Potter said. He raised his wand and pointed it directly at Severus.

But before Potter could utter the words of the hex or curse he was planning on flying Severus' way, ever ready Severus called out "_Expelliarmus_!" - Potter's wand flew out of his reach and Potter himself went flying back into the sturdy stone wall.

Potter looked from the wand, to Severus, back to the wand and collapsed on the floor of the dungeon, a silent sob wracking his body.

Severus stood frozen at the doorway for a moment. _What do I do, _he wondered. _Do I just ignore him? Go find Minerva? Or... you were a teenager at Hogwarts, doing the same thing, throwing fits and screaming. What did you wish, do you still wish, someone would have done? _He cautiously walked over to the crumbled figure and knelt down on the floor, taking the sobbing eighteen-year-old into his strong arms.

"Ssh." He attempted to comfort the boy. He hadn't had much experience around small children before, but he had a feeling this was what it was like comforting one. In all his years of attempting to be a very good Head of House, never had he taken a crying student in his arms and told them to 'ssh'. "Ssh. Ssh, Harry. Ssh."

_Harry. I called him by his first name, _he realized.

"It is going to be all right." He pulled Harry closer and began stroking his back. As much as he had denied it over the years, he knew the truth. If _someone_ had given a damn about him at some point, he might not have chosen the path he did. And if he could change the same fate for someone else, even if it was James Potter's son... "It is not the end of the world."

Apparently he said something wrong, for Harry only started to cry even more, a choking sob. _What do you do? He is going to make himself sick! What has come over him?_

Severus quickly ran his mind through the events that had taken place in the past eight weeks. They had developed the Bond, Potter had broken up with Weasley's sister, which had broken his heart - that Severus knew because of the moaning in Potter's sleep - and Weasley and Granger were evidentially giving Harry the silent treatment, for some reason. Harry had developed a smart-ass mouth and started causing more trouble than the rest of the students combined...

"You know, I know what you're going through." Severus said, continuing to stroke Harry's back in an attempt to make him stop crying.

"Yeah right." Harry found the words to say. _Everyone says that, no one gets it. At all._

"I do." Severus said. "You're miserable. You've lost everything important to you - your friends, your girlfriend... and you never had a family, did you? Your family you lived with - they abused you, didn't they? That's how you got all the scars. That is why whenever someone touches you, you jerk away."

The new sob coming out from Harry's throat answered in the affirmative. "I never had a family either - my father abused me as well, and my mother just let him. She killed herself when I was in my third-year." Severus gripped Harry tighter, refusing to let those memories resurface more than necessary. "I had no real friends my entire time at Hogwarts. There was Albus, of course, but he wasn't a student and so much older... there was Lily - your mother - and we were good friends, up until..." he let the sentence dangle there, not wanting to finish it. And there was no way he was ready to admit to Harry his failure to ever get a real girlfriend. He had had flings here and there, one-night stands, but never anything substantial. He loved Lily too much for that.

_Lily. I'm doing just what she wanted, _he realized. _She wanted me to be close, always saying that Harry should meet his 'Uncle Sev'... _his thoughts were interrupted by Harry.

"Ginny..." He tried, before burying his face back into Severus' shoulder, in sorrow. He seemed to be pressed his face hard against it, yearning for comfort without realizing it.

_You're going to pay for this in the morning, Severus - you're getting too old to be sitting on the floor, _he thought as he tried to reposition himself from his knelt position to a crossed-legged one, keeping his tight hold on Harry. "What about Ginny, Harry?" Severus prodded. "Is she with another boy now?" Severus named the likely.

Harry nodded, his face still buried in the black robes and muttered something. "Dago Mavloi."

"What?" Severus leaned closer to Harry.

"Draco Malfoy." Harry said, rising out of the robes just enough to say the name clearly before burying his face again, his body shaking violently as another sob escaped his throat.

_Figures_, Severus thought. He had never taken the Gryffindor girl for a complete idiot - there were plenty of boys in the school - why pick the son of a Death Eater? Lucius Malfoy was not as sane as they came.

"I saw them in the library. They were..." Harry tried to keep his voice under control. "They were making out and kissing and I couldn't stand it!" He climbed further into Severus' arms, re-burying his face.

"It is hard." Severus' mind went back to a time when he had went into the library, hoping to find a book on becoming an Animagus. Little did he know that not only had Potter's clan checked out all of those books, but James was also standing in the aisle with Lily pushed up against a shelf, kissing her and touching her in places Severus had only dreamed about. It hadn't been a pretty scene, what followed.

"I tried to forget about her!" Harry cried. "But I can't! Severus, I've tried to hard to forget her and to accept everything, but it's too hard! I love her too much!"

Severus tensed at hearing Harry say his name, no doubt not on purpose, just as Severus had let his guard down and called Harry Harry. "I wish I knew what to tell you." Severus admitted, trying to chose his words carefully. Harry had suddenly broken down into his arms, but it did not mean that all was forgiven. "You don't need to forget her, but you need to let go. It will wind up killing you, if you don't." _Believe me, I know. _"It is not easy and takes time, but it gets better."

"What do _you_ know about girls?" Harry said accusingly.

"_Touche_." Severus said. "But I do know about this particular problem, I'll have you know."

"I imagine so." Harry said in a muffled voice.

Severus raised a brow. "Fine. I shall just get up and leave you huddled on the floor by yourself."

"No!" Harry said quickly, wrapping his arms around Severus' neck very tightly.

"Very well." Severus said, hiding his smile. He hadn't outwardly smiled in years. But it was just that Harry reminded him so much of a child at that point (he still was a child, as far as Severus was concerned – turning seventeen did not automatically make you an adult, regardless of legal standpoint).

"What did she tell them?" Harry said, his voice breaking again. Severus took off Harry's tear-stained glasses and stuck them on one of the lower bookshelf shelves - the glasses were getting crammed against his chest. "Ron hates me - he thinks I broke-up with Ginny to be mean, or for a prank, or because I found someone else or..." a new flood of tears erupted.

"It is a tough situation." Severus emphasized, slowly standing up, Harry in his arms like a child. "I imagine Ginny didn't want to tell her brother the truth, out of consideration for you. She might have come up with a lie that ended badly." _It is not as if she is a Slytherin. _"You and I are both only-children, but I also get this impression that siblings can be very protective of each other." Stepping into the bathroom, he waved his wand in the general direction of the large shower, which transformed into a large bathtub. Harry was sobbing too hard into Severus' shoulder to notice.

"The bigger the family, the more fierce the protection. And we all know that the Weasley's have what is it now? Twelve children?" Hot water began pouring into the tub. Severus knew that a hot bath often helped relax one, especially when upset or under great stress. He knew it from experience.

"Seven." Came Harry's muffled voice. "Counting Fred."

"Ron is probably acting on defense. If you are too good for his sister, then you are not worth his time." Severus toyed with the idea of using the disrobing charm, but figured it would shock Harry too much to use in such a vulnerable moment. He began fumbling with Harry's robes, letting Harry stand on his own two feet while Severus aided him in undressing. He then helped Harry into the hot water. "And I imagine the Granger girl is not speaking to you because Weasley isn't?"

"How did you know?" Harry asked as Severus poured water over Harry's head.

"After thirty-eight years, you get to know people." Severus said simply, not providing a further answer. He didn't need one - that was the truth. "What about Longbottom? Or Lovegood? Were you not close with them?"

Harry shrugged as Severus began to wash his hair for him, which badly needed cut - it was starting to fall to his chin, in Severus-like fashion. "We were friends, I guess, but it was nothing special. Not like it was with Ron and Hermione."

"Seems that it couldn't have been too special, if they are willing to leave you at the drop of a hat." Severus commented dryly, rinsing out Harry's hair.

Harry pulled away from Severus. "Don't you dare insult my friends!" His eyes flashed angrily.

Severus grabbed Harry's thin arm and pulled him back across the tub, continuing to rinse his hair as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Perhaps once they know the truth, they will relax. They will not have an excuse to be rude to you then."

"They have no excuse." Harry said grudgingly as Severus began to scrub the back of his neck with a washcloth. "They haven't even given me a chance to explain myself to them."

"You shouldn't have to explain yourself. They should be able to trust you and leave it at that, end of discussion." Severus said firmly. He wasn't exactly a world renown expert on comradeship, but he knew something was messed up when he saw it. "Just the same, tomorrow morning, why don't you go into the Gryffindor Common Room explain everything? Before breakfast."

"But then the whole school will know!" Harry exclaimed, turning around to look at Snape in horror at the thought.

Severus just nodded. "Yes. Probably." He started on Harry's back. _It is amazing how much grime can build up on an eighteen-year-old in what? Two weeks? Three weeks?_ "To be honest, I expected Peeves to spread it all over school before the end of the first day."

To Severus' surprise, he really did feel that way. To be honest, he just wanted to quit hiding and dodging questions. If the whole world knew about the Bond, then maybe finally he could relax a bit more without having to worry about substantial lies at every turn.

Harry scoffed. _At least he is no longer crying, _Severus thought. "Fred probably blackmailed him into not telling. D'ya think Fred knows?"

"The Bloody Baron knows." Severus said with a shrug. "And to be honest, I do not care who finds out now. What is done is done." He sighed, the face of Lily Evans coming to him in his mind, of the letter he had once gotten from her, telling him of Harry's birth and how she wished for him to meet his 'Uncle Sev' – even though Severus hadn't spoken to her in years, she had continued to write him every week. "I told myself that I wouldn't be the one to say this, but-"

"-but we're a couple of stubborn idiots?" Harry supplied, closing his eyes, enjoying the feel of the strong hands scrubbing his back. It made him feel... loved. Special. Cared for.

Severus raised a brow. "So we are in agreement."

"I think so." Harry said in a soft voice, trying to hide the yawn that was trying to come out of his throat. But unfortunately for him, Severus caught it.

"I'm going to go repair the damage done to the sitting room." Severus put the washcloth aside and slowly got up, ignoring his bones creaking. "Why don't you finish up here, get into some clean pajamas, and into bed, all right?"

Harry nodded. "Don't ever leave me, 'kay?"

_Severus stood at the door, a rare smile breaking over his face as he understood what the boy was trying to say. Ignoring the fact that it was virtually impossible for him to without them both dying, and the fact that two hours ago they were convinced that they both hated each other, Severus replied. "I won't, Harry. I promise."_


	18. Ten Things

**Chapter Eighteen**

"**Ten Things"**

* * *

Later that night, smelling of soap and in clean pajamas, Harry was lying in bed next to Severus' cool body, which Harry actually welcomed – the dungeons were cold, but after crying so hard and having such a hot bath, it felt good.

"Severus?" Harry asked, timidly.

"Hmm?" Severus had his arm underneath the boy's head - he hadn't placed it there on purpose, but somehow it had wound up there.

"What was my mother like?" Harry asked. _Just ask him. He's going to get mad at you again eventually – might as well be worthwhile._ "I mean, I know she had red hair and green eyes, was Muggle-born and died to save me, but no one ever tells me what she was like. And everyone who would know has died; my dad, Sirius, Lupin..." His voice trailed. "You're the only one left. And I think you probably knew her really well. You don't have to tell me a lot - just a couple things. Ten things - a nice round even number. Ten's not a lot, is it?"

Severus was quiet for a long time. Harry began to wonder if Severus had fallen asleep, or maybe he was angry with him? Just as Harry began to give up, Severus spoke.

"One, your mother didn't have 'red' hair, or at least not Weasley red." Severus felt Harry snuggle up against him and froze for a moment before continuing. _The boy is attention-starved. Far from being a spoiled celebrity..._ "It was auburn - a beautiful auburn. She wasn't vain by any means, but knew how lovely her hair was, and loved to put it up in different styles - I doubt she ever wore her hair the same way twice."

Harry held his breath, waiting for Severus' next words. Would he continue? Harry felt safe lying in Severus' arms, a safety he had never known before. It felt good.

"Two, your mother loved romantic novels. And Merlin, could she ever read fast! Muggle romance novels or Wizarding one, it didn't matter. She smuggled them into classrooms and read them behind textbooks until I transfigured them into what looked like textbooks to anyone but she and I. We never did get caught." _He doesn't remember having a father, _Severus realized, placing his right arm around Harry's body protectively without thinking. _He's longing for fatherly love. _He didn't know what had come over him – the realization that Harry needed exactly what Severus had never gotten, or the realization that Lily probably wanted Severus to care for Harry – but he was glad that at least he wasn't doing this out of guilt.

"Three, she loved rain."

"Rain?" Harry asked in shock.

Severus' glare was visible even in the dim light, but it wasn't an angry or sneering one, but a warning one, warning Harry to stay quiet. "Are you finished, Potter?" He asked, quietly.

At Harry's nod, he continued. "Every morning, she would walk into the Great Hall and look up at the ceiling. If it were sunny outside, she would just sigh, and if it were rainy, she would start dancing around wildly, like a small child." Severus gave a small, but sad smile at the memory.

"Four, she loved nighttime. She loved to curl up in an armchair next to a fire, with a blanket over her lap, read her romance novels and never move."

Severus didn't need to think too hard to think of ten things about Lily. He could name hundreds of things about her, things that perhaps no one else knew. "Five, she loved to laugh. Merlin, did she love to laugh. She could find something funny about just about anything. I had Defense Against the Dark Arts with her in our sixth year, when Professor Igor taught. He had a tendency to say things that could immediately turn into a sexual joke, and you had to keep Lily quiet in that class, or she would start laughing out loud after just about every sentence of his. Her laughter was one of those contagious ones, so if you weren't extremely careful, everyone would start laughing along with her - detention for everyone."

"'That's what she said.'" Harry couldn't help but quip. He immediately regretted it - the last thing he needed was for Severus to get mad and quit.

To his surprise, Severus chuckled. "Six, she could dance very well. I found a spell to play music, and we would skip classes and find empty classrooms. We would just dance and dance..." Severus closed his mind with the memory. He was no longer holding an attention-starved Harry Potter, but a dainty and smiling Lily Evans, who managed to look like a queen even in her grey pleated skirt, grey stockings, Mary-Janes, and Gryffindor striped tie.

"Severus?" Harry prodded in a gentle whisper. He didn't want Severus to get mad and quit telling him stories of his mother, but he didn't want him to fall asleep, either.

"Mmmm? Which number were we at, Harry?" It felt weird to say Harry's name without spitting it out after all of these years, but somehow it felt right.

"Seven." Harry said.

"Seven. Let's see... she loved parties. She would find a way to celebrate just about any occasion. I loved to surprise her with lilies sporadically, on no special occasion, just to see her light up with excitement." He paused. "Lilies were her favorite flowers."

"Please don't let that be eight." Harry begged. "Please don't let her favorite flowers be 'eight' - can it just count as part of seven?"

"As you wish, Potter." Severus said with mock-contempt. "Eight, she couldn't sing. She was blessed with many talents, but singing was just not one of them. Nine," Severus paused, letting the memories wash over him, "your mother loved Potions, and was very good at it. It was her best class. We would spend hours experimenting with Potions with..." he stopped and couldn't help but chuckle in the irony of what he was about to say. Harry listened eagerly, wondering what was so funny. " with what we stole from the storeroom." Severus admitted.

"Aha!" Harry said, pulling from Severus' embrace and turning around to look at the man. "You've stolen from the storeroom yourself! And for experiments! At least when we stole stuff, we had a good excuse for it."

"Like when did you have a good excuse?" Severus scoffed.

"Er..." Harry didn't know how to reply to that. He might not get to hear number ten. "What's number ten?" He asked, turning back around and settling himself against Severus' bony, but muscularly hard chest.

"Number ten..." Severus said with a deep exhale, "is that your mother loved you. Very much. She wrote me letters very often after we left Hogwarts, up until the time that she died." _She died._ The words didn't pierce Severus' heart like they used to, but just reminded him of a dull ache. "She constantly told me how beautiful you were, how intelligent you were, how proud she was of you, of how much I'd love you..."

"Do you still have those letters?" Harry whispered.

"Yes." Severus admitted. "Every one. Someday, I will show them to you."

"But not now?"

"No. Not now."

They lied in silence for a few minutes, their minds in similar places.

Severus was thinking about the boy in his arms. He was the son of Lily, Lily's flesh and blood. He was holding the child that grew in Lily's womb, who Lily loved and cherished with everything in her. For the millionth time, Severus wondered what Lily's last thoughts were. What did she think would happen to Harry? Was Severus in any of her last thoughts? She would have expected him to take good care of Harry, to treat him like his own. Severus knew it and denied it for years. He knew he would regret it for the rest of his life, that he could never make up for the amount of anguish he had caused Harry. And James... yes, Harry was the absolute clone of him, but what if Harry had been his? If he had died instead of James, if he had had a child... he would have been very angry if James had just _ignored_ the child, or hated him... which James probably wouldn't have. As much as Severus still continued to hate James, James had grown into a fine man.

Harry was thinking of his mother. He imagined his parents and himself on a picnic, on top of a grassy knoll, maybe, by a creek. His parents would be in each other's arms, smiling and laughing... and then his mother would get up and bring him back to the picnic blanket, because he was toddling off. The idea of it made Harry just smile. Lily Evans Potter was a good person, Harry had never had any doubt. But what about his father, James?

"Severus?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes, Harry?" Severus realized that his breathing was matched with Harry's.

"Was my father really... really that bad?" Harry asked. "Y-You once called him a 'swine'."

Severus sighed. He knew the question would come up eventually. He just wished the young Gryffindor would take things a little slower. "I'm not going to say that I loved your father, Harry. We weren't friends - we hated each other. And, to be honest with you, I still hate him. He made my life miserable. However," Severus paused, gathering his thoughts, "however, once he grew out of his obnoxious stage, he evidentially became a fine man. Lily loved him, and I respect him for that. I respect him for standing up against the Dark Lord, and I respect him for the work he did to fight against him. He was obnoxious as a young man, but so are most boys that age." Severus scoffed as he thought about his words. "It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it you should be proud of him, Harry. I never knew him that well, but he loved you and if he were my father..." Severus took a deep breath, "if I were in your shoes, I would be proud."

"Really?" Harry asked. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Since when have I ever told anyone anything to make them feel better?"

Harry grinned, and snuggled up against the Potions Master. Yes, his parents were dead. No, he would never be getting them back. Yes, he was going to be stuck with a sarcastic greasy-haired professor for the rest of his life, but at least he wasn't stuck with a sarcastic greasy-haired git.

* * *

Harry paced outside the Gryffindor Common Room. He was still a Gryffindor by personality and uniform only – whenever the password had changed last, no one had told him. He would never get a chance to talk to Ron or Hermione if-

"Harry!" !" Seamus ran up behind him, breathless. "Are you locked out?"

"Yeah." Harry offered no explanation. "Where have you been? _No one_ is _ever_ running around the castle at six in the morning."

"Yeah, well, detention." Seamus explained. "With Hagrid. Snape actually gave me the detention, but he's been demanding that all his detentions be served with other professors, lately." He eyed Harry quizzically. "Harry? You don't really have detention with Snape every night, do you? I mean, _really_. He hates you, I know, but it's been, like, _years_ since we've been able to just hang out. What's up?"

Harry just shook his head. "Complicated. Can you just open the door? I, er, haven't been up here in ages."

Seamus nodded. Everyone in their year had theories of what Harry had done to merit months of detention with Snape. Seamus' personal theory, one that he shared with Ron Weasley, was that Harry was actually shagging some girl in the Room of Requirement, or maybe the Chamber of Secrets. Snape would be the perfect person to _claim_ to have detention with, simply because few people were willing to question Snape on anything to his face. And Harry had moved all of his stuff out – surely that was because he was actually living somewhere else. With someone else, probably. Likely from another House though, because no other Gryffindors had exhibited such odd behavior.

Seamus uttered the password and Harry clambered into the Gryffindor Common Room. He breathed in the smell of it. It didn't give him the same thrill that it used to. He found himself preferring the smell of..._the smell of my chambers. Snape's chambers..._ he realized. Well, he didn't like the smell of Snape's chambers when foul smelling Potions were opened or dealt with in that room, but aside from that, he had grown used to everything else. He felt comfortable in the Gryffindor Common Room, but not as comfortable as he felt in Snape's living room. His living room.

Harry walked up the stairs to the dorm he had once shared with Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville and gently shook Ron awake. "Ron." He whispered. "Ron, wake up."

Ron opened one eye and immediately glared. "Sod off, Potter." He grumbled sleepily, rolling over.

"Wake up!" Harry urged. "I have something important to talk to you about."

"If you're thinking about getting back together with Ginny, forget it." Ron muttered. "She informed me last night that she's with Malfoy, and as much as I hate that, I'd rather she be with him over you."

Harry gritted his teeth over those hateful words. "Look, I need you to come with. I've already sent Hedwig to Hermione, asking her to meet me in the dungeons, but I figured if I didn't, you know, make you come with me face-to-face, you would just _Incendio_ the note and never come."

"Damn right I would." Ron said. "Go away. Shouldn't you be out snogging someone?"

"No." Harry asked. _Snogging someone? Who would I be with? The only person I've had enough time to do anything with is Snape and... no. Not happening in a million years. _He didn't retch at the thought of being close to the man any longer – in the past couple months, he had started to hate Snape less and less, though waist-deep in the River Denial. Last night, he realized that he needed to be close to him, as a friend. As an uncle of sorts. He needed _somebody_ to lean on, what with both Sirius and Lupin dead. Dumbledore cared for him, but treated him too much like The-Boy-Who-Lived crossed between something else. Uncle Vernon was... Severus was his only option. And somehow, he was okay with that, for if Severus hated him as much as he pretended to, he would not have held and comforted Harry the way he had the night before. But snogging? Not in a million centuries.

"Look, I need you to come with me. I have something I need to explain to you." He begged. "Please?"

Ron rolled over and faced Harry, hatred set in his blue eyes. "Why should I?"

Harry hesitated. "Well... I know you think I'm a bastard for whatever you think I did to Ginny, but the truth is... is complicated. Come with me, and I'll explain it all." He hesitated. "You might want to get dressed first. By the time we're finished, it might be time for breakfast."

* * *

"If you set some sort of basilisk on me, Harry Potter, I swear-" Ron threatened as they continued to wind their way through the dungeon maze, a maze which Harry knew by heart.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Ron."

"I hope Hermione's okay." Ron looked around the dreary dungeon walls anxiously. "Will she be able to find us?"

Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map. "She's already there." He verified. "Pacing."

"Harry! What is this all about!" Hermione demanded as soon as they came in ear-shot.

Harry shook his head. "It's a long story." He turned to the portrait they were in front of and uttered the password. He had no clue how Severus did it without speaking, but assumed it was a piece of Dark Magic. He'd have to ask him later.

Ron and Hermione's eyes widened as they took in the room in front of them. The well-used living space, the not-so-well-used kitchen space, the carelessly left open doors leading to the bathroom and bedroom.

"You've been living here?" Hermione asked, her eyes running over the books on the shelves. Hundreds of books.

At Harry's nod, Ron snapped. "I knew it. Who is she, Harry? Does Dumbledore know that-"

"You don't like to read, Harry." Hermione broke in. "Whose books are these?"

Harry began to panic. This was _not _going as planned. In his mind, he would have taken Ron and Hermione down here, they would have calmly listened to his explanation... not demand a bunch of answers to questions. If he answered, they would keep asking questions and making assumptions... he would never get the chance to explain!

"They are mine." A smooth deep voice came up behind them. Harry felt a firm hand rest on his shoulder and did not have to look up to see who it belonged to. The voice itself carried a commanding air, silencing Ron and Hermione's accusations.

"Young Harry had the misfortune of swallowing a _Contineo_ Potion." Severus explained, trying not to roll his eyes at the gasp from Miss Granger and ignorant blank look on Mr. Weasley's face. "A _Contineo_Potion Mr. Longbottom had accidentally brewed, that I had the honor of swallowing as well."

Harry looked up at Severus' face. The man had what months ago Harry would have described as an expressionless face, but that was not true at all. He had a wide range of expressions – mirth was just not one that he cared to ever show on his face.

"For his sake and mine, he is living here. He has had to undergo things he never wished to and has handled himself in quite a well manner." Were those words of _praise_ coming out of Severus' mouth? Harry tried not to gape in shock.

"Mr. Weasley, not that it is any of your business, but for the sake of your sister, Harry decided to break off with her." _Or I forced him to._ Severus did not need to explain the details. "Had he not, he risked bringing her into our Bond as well, which is something I know you do not wish on her."

_Or on anyone, _Harry tried not to smirk.

Hermione spoke up. "I haven't done much research on the Potion – I tried to find out what it was, of course, after you looked so angry after tasting it, Professor, but all the books on it were in the restricted section and-"

"Quite simply, Miss Granger, it forces a Bond on the two drinkers. They must spend equal amounts of time in each others company or they will grow ill and die."

"Don't be mad, Ron." Harry spoke up, clasping his best friend's hand out of impulse. "It's not Severus' fault, or Neville's. It's _nobody's_ fault."

Severus did not deem this the appropriate time to inform Harry of Draco Malfoy's confession.

"Severus?" Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You call him S_everus_?"

"Outside the classroom only." Severus added quickly. He did not mind the first name basis – it made him feel good actually, to have someone refer to him by his first name, as few people did. But it would be unacceptable in the classroom – the last thing Severus needed was a bunch of students calling him Severus. Especially since it would lessen the fear they had for him. Fear of a name was not necessarily always a bad thing.

"Professor," Hermione spoke up. "What can you tell us about the _Contineo_ Potion? All the books in the library-"

"There's not much to tell – it is very rare." Harry explained, ignoring that the question was addressed to Severus. "Basically, you have to spend a lot of time together. He had to adopt me so I could live down here. Even though I'm of-age, Dumbledore wouldn't have a student living in with one of his teachers. There has to be so much contact, so it's pretty important that we spend all our spare time together. That's why Gryffindor had to get Grace Creel on our team, because I can't spend all my time up there flying."

"You're Harry _Snape_?" Ron asked, horrified.

"Merlin forbid." Severus muttered under his breath, making Harry laugh.

"No, Ron." Harry sighed. "I'm still a Potter."

"You broke off the relationship with Ginny because of sex, right?" Hermione, raised as a Muggle, asked the question openly. Ron, however, turned as red as his hair at her free use of the word. Apparently speaking of such things in mixed company was not proper in the Wizarding world.

Harry nodded. "Well... yeah. I mean, it's never really been tested against having sex with other people, so why-"

"_Other_ people?" Ron looked like he was about to faint. "Don't tell me you two are- that you guys have- that you and Snape-"

"No!" Severus put in quickly. "Put your mind at ease, Mr. Weasley. We all know you cannot afford any extra strain on it as it is."

Ron's eyes flashed angrily at Severus. "Oh, so that's just great. Harry gets to die a virgin. I guess that's better than being with you, but still! How could you _do_ this to him, you miserable-"

"Shut up, Ron." Harry broke in, sneaking a glance over at Severus, who looked furious. "Remember everything that applies to me applies to him, too."

"Yeah, well, who in their right mind would want to shag _him_?"

"Shut up!" Harry defended Severus. "He's... just shut _up_." Harry nervously reached up and patted Severus' shoulder, in attempt to calm him down. "Let's go discuss this somewhere else. Severus, er, has reports to finish grading."

As the trio left, Severus plopped in his armchair, very ungracefully. That much was true – he had fourth-year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to grade. But it didn't stop him from feeling all the complicated emotions he was feeling. He felt angry at Weasley, who so openly fired insults at his professor – he would have to take points away for that. Pity for Harry, who had to further deal with Weasley. Also more pity for Harry, who, true enough, never would know of sexual pleasures and would spend much of his life broken-hearted. Also a bit for himself, who had already spent much of his life broken-hearted, and who would never get a chance to really move on. Frustrated, because the entire thing was out of his control now, but in a way, relieved. Happy. Because for once in the past two months, things were going right. He and Harry were getting along somewhat and if they could just continue that, maybe the next one hundred years Severus had to live wouldn't be so bad.


	19. In The End

**Chapter Nineteen**

"**In the End"**

* * *

_I suppose now you might as well ask the boy if the two of you could stay at Grimmauld Place, _Severus thought, taking a bite of his food that morning. _You have already degraded yourself in front of him, it is not as if your pride will be any further damaged by having to ask an eighteen-year-old boy if you can live in his house._ Despite of the situation, he couldn't help but chuckle wryly. Everything was still all messed up, but better after the previous night. At least the boy wasn't going out of his way every second he could to make Severus miserable.

"What did he do to you last night? Give you a sort of 'Happy' Potion?" Professor Flitwick asked Severus, breaking Severus' thought train.

Severus shot a glare at Professor Flitwick. He knew that the entire staff knew about the Bond – it was necessary, so that the teachers didn't have to worry about inappropriate relations between teacher and student. But he still hated that they felt the need to bring it up so casually. "No – am I not allowed to have a good morning?"

"Potter has informed me that you've worked things out." Minerva observed from Severus' other side.

"He told you that?"

"I am still his Head of House, Severus." Minerva reminded him. "I have been for years – if I ask him how things are, he should be perfectly comfortable telling me."

"Yes." Severus admitted. "Last night I- we had a revelation."

"Which was?" Minerva prodded.

Severus balked, knowing that Professor Flitwick and at least two other members of staff were listening. "That we're two very stubborn people, that Lily would want me to treat him like a son and would want Harry to..." his voice trailed and he shot Minerva a glare that would have made any student run for cover. "What is it to you?"

Minerva laughed. "'Harry' is it, now?"

"Well, I am not going to call him 'Potter' for the rest of my life." Severus snapped. "The last thing I need is more reminding of his four-eyed, obnoxious-" He stopped, his eyes watching the scene playing out at the Gryffindor table.

* * *

"Oi, mate – I'm sorry." Ron said apologetically, in a hoarse voice the next morning. He was pushing his black pudding around in circles, not eating it. "I thought-"

"We both thought it, Ronald." Hermione reminded him.

"Yeah," Harry said quietly, taking a huge bite of eggs. Unlike Ron, who was not hungry for the first time in months, Harry was starving for the first time since the Bond had formed. "But really? Did you think I would dump any girl without a good reason? I... I love Ginny." He glanced over down the table – Malfoy was standing over her, his arms wrapped around her neck.

Harry began choking on his food, while Ron shook his head. "Yeah, I don't like it either."

Harry watched as Ginny leaned her head back and placed an upside-down kiss on Malfoy's lips. He turned away, fighting the hot tears in his eyes.

Severus placed a firm hand on Harry's shoulder, causing Harry to whirl around on the bench. "Are you all right?" Severus murmured, well-aware that many students were watching Harry and Severus with high anticipation. He wished he could tell Harry about the almost certain expulsion of Draco Malfoy, but couldn't. Not without telling Harry about Draco's involvment in putting the Bond between them, which would mean certain death for the blonde Slytherin. After living with a Gryffindor for the past couple months, he was learning to expect the emotion-driven impulses that came from those from that House.

Harry just nodded. "You said it gets better?"

"You need to stay friends with her and get over it. I speak from experience." Severus informed him, the only thing keeping the sad smile off his face was an audience. It really was ironic. "You will probably be living here at the school for years, and just imagine what will happen if you stay bitter; if your Ginny did get married to Draco, imagine that in another fifteen years, a white-blonde little boy shows up at school..."

Harry's eyes widened as he understood what Severus was getting at. "Oh, Merlin!"

* * *

**Epilogue**

Severus and Harry's relationship healed over time. Severus Snape continued to teach as Hogwart's Potions teacher. Harry Potter finished his studies in the June shortly following this story and began to teach as the school's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, much to Snape's disdain. Potter, to this date, was the longest lasting Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that Hogwarts has ever had.

The Weasley family remained close to Potter and eventually accepted Snape as a family member, as Potter could only come visit for holidays if Snape came as well. Potter and Ginny Weasley were able to be close friends without being at odds. Weasley understood that Potter loved her and wanted her to enjoy her life and consequently married a pure-blood three years her senior (at the age of twenty-three), who had studied at home under the guidance of his Wizarding parents.

Draco Malfoy was forever estranged from his godfather. He managed to narrowly avoid expulsion from Hogwarts. He went on to lose his Malfoy fortune and grovel in poverty for a few years before killing himself at age twenty-nine. He was never married and had no children.

Snape and Potter were like father-and-son for the rest of their lives. Sadly though, the wear and tear of his complicated life eventually took a toll on him and Snape died at the young age (for a Wizard) of seventy-three. Potter followed in death two days later, at the age of fifty-two. Neither one of them became haunts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - it is generally believed that though they accepted and loved their lives as they were, they did not want to risk having to bring the Bond into eternity with them. No bonds formed by Contineo have been formed since the case of Severus Snape and Harry Potter.


End file.
